
Glass 'Jlfi. 



Book 



i 



ANALYSIS 

OF 

THE HISTOKY OF GEEMANY, 



By the same Author. 



DR. DAWSOX TTTENER'S HISTOEICAL ANALYSES. 

Seventh Edition, with Additions and Corrections, price 25. 6d. 

ANALYSIS of ENOLISH and FKENCH HIS- 
TORY. By Dawson W. Turner, D.C.L. Head Master of 
the Royal Institution School, Liverpool. 

ANALYSIS of ROMAIT HISTORY, Second Edition, 25. 

ANALYSIS of GRECIAN HISTORY, Third Edition, 2.?. 



ANALYSIS 

OP 

THE HISTOEY OF GEEMAM 



WITH BRIEP EXTEACT3 FROM 



ST AND A ED AUTHOKITIES. 



Continued d.ovjn to the Present Time, 



BY 



DAWSOJ^ W: TUEXER, D.C.L. 

lATE DEMY AiJD EXHIBITIONER OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD; 
HEAD MASTER OF THE ROYAL INSTITUTION SCHOOL, Lm:RPOOL ; 
AUTHOR OP ANALYSis OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND 
AND FRANCE, OF ROME, AND OF GREECE. 



THIRD EDITIOSr, 

"V^ITH ADDITIONS AlN'D CJP.EECTIOXS. 



LONDON: 
LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. 
1872. 



The right of translation is reaerired. 



.r'?4- 



L0XDO5": PBINTED BY 
SPO!mSW0ODE AXD CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
AM-Q PARLIi^IEUTT STREET 



■ ^^^^ . 



The following Analysis lias Leen constructed upon the 
same principles and the same method as were employed in 
those which I have already published^ on the Histories of 
Greece, E.ome^ France, and England. The fayourable re- 
ception which they have met with, has encouraged me to 
pursue my task in reference to the Histoiy of Germany. 
The wide extent of my subject has rendered it impossible 
for me to do more than to attempt a slight outline of the 
leading events which it comprises. 

Those who are best acquainted with the immense num- 
ber and complex nature of these events, will, I am sure, 
be the most indulgent to the errors and omissions, which^ I 
cannot but fear, this little treatise will present to critical 
eyes. 

As heretofore, I have to acknowledge my great obliga- 
tions to all the works of standa^rd authority on the subject 
before me, which I was able to consult ; but it would 
be injustice not to particularize the admirable Essay of 
Mr. Bryce on the Holy Roman Empire. As usual, also, I beg 
to thajik the kind friends who have given me the benefit of 
their advice, and their revision of this work while passing 
through the press \ in particular my sister, Lady Hooker ; 
the Eev. Dr. J. G. Sheppard, of Kidderminster Grammar 
School, Professor James Lonsdale, of Eng's College, Lon- 
don, and Mr. E. M. Haines, of Christ College, Cambridge. 

I ought to add, that ^ The Sketch of the Genoian Con- 
federation, as at present existmg,' was specially written for 
me by Dr. E. Weinmann, of the University of Berlin and 
the article in the Appendix on the derivation of the word 
Deutsch kindly communicated by my friend Professor Max 
Mtiller. 

DA-WSON W. TUENEE, D.C.L. 



EoYAL Instttutton School, Liverpoo 

mv. I860. 



NOTICE TO THE SECOXD EDITION. 



f^" preparing- tlie Second Edition of tliis little vrork for 
tlie press, I be^- to acknowledge tlie great advantage of 
Z^Ir. Bryce's kind revisal and corrections. 

As some niisapprekension appears to exist as to the ob- 
ject and scope of this and mj otlier ^danuals (of English 
and Erench History, ^cc). I wonld distinctly state that they 
are }iot designed to supersede the fuller Histories of the re- 
spective Countries. Eather are they intended to recall, 
after the perusal of such books^ the more salient points, 
and to impress them upon the mind, by eliminating the 
less important matter, as well as to serve as short text- 
books, whereon to lecture and give viva voce explanations, 
amd to aid, as brief summaries, wherewith to prepare for 
examinations, I venture, on this accoimt. to quote from 
the Eeview which the present and my other Manuals re- 
ceived in ' The Times ' for January 8, 1866, because it has 
seized and clearly set forth the object intended in them. 

•' Among tliGse Tvho liave devoted t]iem?elTes to tlie preparation of ele- 

ir t:^^~ r:c:.l 'v rks. Dr. Tnmer holds a very higli place. He tias 
.l;:sc5 of rhe Histories of Greece, Eome. France, 
puljlislies one of Germany on tte same plan. 
; \ . He C"Z-ta:i:l7 k-: -. c-fore lifni. in his retrospect, 

- . V: dV_ . . ::: : : _ t j those who "ffdsli to nnder- 

= - : v- : : ■ ■ : : - ' : tmimportant events. Tvhich 

c-::nz_v:: : ; -riv-.:; vrhen ^ :':r. he sums up in the form 

of a : : ;'.. :7.s or chronV. -;h? STeat landmarks of 

Histc ry - . J - =0 dl5po=e ; V y "_L:-cteda long series of 

brief exiracts ir-:: " :V . : _ V r.:id he has made 

rhtm descrite th: ^' • : V - : a vreight to his 

r~r^=. a::"! re:;i""' .ada.;— _i.:d :„ _cneral, so justly 

c. --- - Ly a j:adici::;5 oi capital letters, old English, 

_ '.s/he ingeniously distinguishes the cardinal events 
■ _ _ -ji history. The result is that in perusing his 

Wo-LS. the Histcr " "vrry ijecomes kriOTm to us. as its Geography 

may become kno - arist rrho travels hurriealy through it by 

r:.:i. but ""bo rests :.: . j-en sites, and vrho explores -chem at leisure, 
: ' any of v-eb-iiiiormed guides. 

: \ ::vr never f.^rgets that he is vrriting for modem readers. He 
r _ ; - : a : - :rom the Quarterly Pie-rio-rs and the daily papers, and 
> _a- ' \:a: recent events and ' ' y the information afforded 

b ; _ r .- of Germany. In rb: : _ : be has been eminently snc- 
_ o:nvr of no vrork v-bicb v;e c . "add more Tvarmly recommend 
ay of those who desire to acquaint themselVes vrith the 
1 L_ of modern GeiTuany, and the facts concerning it. with 

:.a;.x luu^t important that an Englishman should be acquainied.' 

June 1S66. 



LIST OF AUTHORITIES 

QUOTEtP. 



H. M. and ^ Heeren's Manual of the Political Stat^' System of Modem 
H. M. P. S, j Europe. 



C. ..... . Coxe's History of tlie House of Austria. 

if. Menzel's History of Germany. 

^^i'Mu' ] ^^^^^'s History of Latin Christianity. 

G. M. W. . . Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works. 

Br. and B. . Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, 3rd edit. 

Sm. and S. , Professor Smythe's Lectures on Modem History. 

K. Koch's History of the Eevolutions of Modem Europe. 

R Eanke's History of the Papacy. 

0. C. T. . . . The Oxford Chronological Tables of the History of the 
Middle Ages, and of Modern History, published by Talboys. 

A Dr. Arnold's Lectures on Modem History. 

K. P. E. . . Knight's Popular History of England. 

Rdb Eobertson's History of Charles V. 

T. M. M. H* 

P. Piitz's Handbook of Modem History. 

Tr Archbishop Trench's Two Lectures on Gustavns Adolphus, 

and on the Thirty Years' War. 

G Gibbon's Decline and Fall. 



* I regret not being able now to remember the title ot ths worl? 
referred to. 



Ylli LIST OF AUTHORITIES QUOTED. 

T. N, , , , ^ Times Newspaper ; Eeviews and Articles in 

West. Rev. . . "Westminster Heyiew ; various articles. 

Q. E Quarterly Keview ; various articles. 

E. R Edinburgh Review ; various articles. 

/. S. Lect . . Sir James Stephen's Lectures on the History of France. 

K, N. C. . . Knight's National Cyclopgedia. 

G. S, Lect. . Dr. J. G-. Sheppard's Lectures on the Fall of Rome and Rise 
of the Nationalities. 

Mer Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire. 

A. F. R. k. A. Alison's History of the French Revolution. 

N. P.W. . . Napier's History of the Peninsular "War. 

J> G. » . . Professor James G-. Lonsdale, of King's College, London, 

King, and K. Professor Charles Kingsley's Lectures on History. 

A. R Annual Register : for various years. 

A. P.S, . . . Dr. A. P. Stanley (Dean of Westminster), Lecture on the 
Reformation ; published in * Evening Recreations,' by 
J. H. Gumey. Longman & Co. 

Kat. Rev. . . National Review ; various articles. 

B» ..... Buckle's History of Civilisation, 

Sib, W. C. , , Sibome's "Waterloo Campaign. 

Mer, H, S.. . Merivale's Historical Studies, republished from the * Edin- 
burgh Review.* 

e' } -^l^^'^'s History of Modem Europe, since 1815. 
JI. M. A, . . Hallam's History of the Middle Ages. 
Pres, • . . , Prescott's edition of Robertson's Charles V, 
Rog, Ess, • . Rogers' Essays ; republished from the * Edinburgh Review.' 
K, R, and T, Kingsley's Roman and Teuton. 

F, L,W. . . F. L. "Weinmann, Ph. D. 

P, R, .... Prescott's edition of Robertson's Charles Y. 

Mac Macaulay's Essays, republished from the ' Edinburgh Re- 
view.' 



PREFACE. 



If traced from its first origin to its final extinction, the Holy Eoman 
Empire stretches over a compass of well nigh two thousand years. Its 
foundations were laid by the greatest constructive genius the world has ever 
seen. It was finally destroyed by one, who to his contemporaries seemed 
the very archangel of destruction. Yet his contemporaries are our contem- 
poraries ; while the contemporaries of its creator were the companions of 
Cicero, of Sulla, of Marius, and of the Gracchi. Inquire into its extinction, 
and you meet the great name of Napoleon. Inquire into its origin, and you 
meet the still greater name of Caius J ulius Ceesar. The epitaph that Cffisar 
uttered over the aristocratic government of Rome, according to Suetonius— 
"Nihil esse rempublicam, appellationem modo sine corpore ae specie" — 
might have been with equal truth pronounced by Napoleon, over the empire 
erected on the ruins of tiie government by Cssar.' — West. Rev., Oct. 1865. 

* Of those who in August, 1806, read in the English newspapers that tbe 
Emperor Francis II. had announced to the Diet his resignation of the impe- 
rial crown, there were probably few who bethought them that the oldest 
political institution in the world had ended. Yet it was so. The empire, 
which a note issued by a diplomatist on the banks of the Danube extin- 
guished, was the same which the crafty nephew of Julius had won for him- 
self against the powers of the East, beneath the cliffs of Actium ; and which 
had preserved almost unaltered, through eighteen centuries of time, and 
through the greatest changes, in extent, in power, in character, a title and 
pretensions from which all meaning had long since departed. Nothing else 
60 directly linked the Old world to the New ; nothing else displayed so many 
strange contrasts of the present and the past, and summed up in those con- 
trasts so much of European history. To trace its career with any minute- 
ness would be to write the history of Christendom from the fifth century to 
the twelfth, of Germany and Italy from the twelfth to the nineteenth. 
Even a narrative of more restricted scope, which should attempt to dis- 
engage from a general account of the affairs of those countries the events 
that properly belong to imperial history, could hardly be compressed within 
reasonable limits. 

* The several limbs of the empire forgot by degrees their original unity. 
As in the breaking up of the old society, which we trace from the sixth to thB 
eighth century, rudeness and ignorance grew apace; as langiiage and 
manners were changed by the infiltration of Teutonic settlers ; as men's 
thoughts, and hopes, and interests, were narrowed by isolation from thjeir 
fellows ; as the organisation of the Eoman province and the Germanic tribe 
alike dissolved into a chaos whence the new order began to shape itself, 
dimly and doubtfully as yet, the mem.ory of the old Empire, its symmetry, 
its sway, its civilisation, must needs wane and fade. It might have perished 
altogether but for the two enduring witnesses Rome had left — her church 



X 



PREFACE. 



aad her law. The barbarians had at first associated Christianity with tbs 
Eomans from whom they learned it : the latter had used it as their only 
bulwark against oppression. The hierarchy were the natural leaders of the 
people, and the necessary councillors of the king. Their power grew with 
the extinction of civil government and the spread of superstition ; and when 
the Prank found it too valuable to be abandoned to the vanquished people, 
he insensibly acquired the feelings and policy of the order he entered. As 
the empire fell to pieces, and the new kingdoms themselves began to dis- 
solve, the church clung more closely to her unity of faith and discipline, the 
common bond of all Christian men. That unity must have a centre ; that 
centre was Rome. A succession of able and zealous pontiffs extended her 
influence (the sanctity and the writings of Gregory the G-reat were famous 
through all the West) : never occupied by barbarians, she retained her 
peculiar character and customs, and laid the foundations of a power over 
men's souls more durable than that she had lost over their bodies. Only 
second in importance to this influence was that which was exercised by the 
iermanence of the old law, and of its creature the municipality. The bar- 
haxian invaders retained the customs of their ancestors, characteristic me- 
morials of a rude people, as we see them in the Salic law or in the ordinances 
of Ina and Alfred. But the subject population aud the clergy continued to 
be governed by that elaborate system which the genius and labour of many 
generations had raised to be the most lasting monument of Roman great- 
ness. The civil la w had maintained itself in Spain and Southern G-aul ; nor 
was it quite forgotten even in the North, in Britain, on the borders of G-er- 
many. Revised editions of the Theodosian code were issued by the Visi- 
gothic and Burgundian princes. For some centuries it was the patrimony 
of the subject population everywhere, and in Aquitaine and Italy has out- 
lived feudalism. The presumption in later times was that all men were to 
be judged by it who could not be proved to be subject to some other. Its 
phrases, its forms, its courts, its subtlety and precision, all recalled the 
strong and reflned society which had produced it. Other motives, as well as 
those of kindness to their subjects, made the new kings favour it ; for it 
exalted their prerogative, and the submission enjoined on one class of their 
subjects soon came to be demanded from the other, by their own laws the 
equals of the prince. Considering attentively how many of the old institu- 
tions continued to subsist, and studying the feelings of that time, as they are 
faintly preserved in its scanty records, it seems hardly too much to say that 
in the eighth century the Roman Empire still existed, existed in men's 
minds as a power weakened, delegated, suspended, but not destroyed.' — 
Bryce, H, R. E, 



SKETCH OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE OEKMAN 
EMPIEE. 

(Abridged from Kobertson's Introduction to the History of 
Charles V.) 

* The Empire of Charlemagne was a structure erected in so short a time 
that it could not be permanent. Under his immediate successor it began 
to totter, and soon after fell to pieces. The crown of Germany was sepa- 
rated from that of France, and the descendants of Charlemagne established 
two great monarchies so situated as to give rise to a perpetual rivalship and 
enmity between them. But the princes of the race of Charlemagne who 



PREFACE. 



were placed on the imperial throne were not altogether so degenerate as 
those of the same family Avho reigned in France. In the hands of the former 
the royal authority retained some vigom-, and the nobles of Germany, thotigh 
possessed of extensive pririleges as well as ample territories, did not so early 
attain independence. The gTeat offices of the cro"v\Ti continued to be at the 
disposal of the sovereign, and during a long period fiefs remained in their 
original state, without becoming hereditary and perpetual in the families of 
the persons to whom they had been gTanted. 

' At length the G-erman branch of the family of Charlemagne became 
extinct, and his feeble descendants who reigned"^ in France had sunk into 
gtich contempt that the Germans, without looking towards them, exercised 
the right inherent in a free people, and in a general assembly of the nation 
elected Conrad,* Count of Franconia, emperor. Aiter him Henry of Saxony, 
and his descendants, the three Othos, were placed, in succession, on the im- 
perial throne by the suffrages of their countrymen. The extensive terri- 
tories of the Saxon Emperors, their eminent abilities and enterprising genius, 
not only added new vigom' to the imperial dignity, but raised it to higher 
power and pre-eminence. Otho the Great marched at the head of a numerous 
army into Italy, and, after the example of Charlemagne, gave law to thafc 
country. Everj^ power there recognised his authority. He created popes, 
and deposed them, by his sovereign mandate. He annexed the kingdom of 
Italy to the German Empire. Elated with his success, he assumed the title 
of Ctesar Augustus. A prince, born in the heart of Germany, pretended to 
be the successor of the emperors of ancient Rome, and claimed a right to tl© 
Bame power and prerogative. 

' But while the Emperors, by means of these new titles and new dominions, 
gradually acqtiired additional authority and splendour, the nobility of Ger- 
many had gone on at the same time extending their privileges and jurisdiction. 

' The situation of affairs was favourable to their attempts. The vigour 
which Charlemagne had given to government quickly relaxed. The in- 
capacity of some of his successors was such as would have encouraged vassals 
less enterprising than the nobles of that age to have claimed new rights, and 
to have assumed new powers. The civil wars in which other Emperors were 
engaged obliged them to pay perpetual court to their subjects, on whose 
support they depended, and not only to connive at their usurpations, but to 
permit and even to authorise them. Fiefs gradually became hereditary. 
They were transmitted not only in the direct but also in the collateral lino. 
The investitm-e of them was demanded not only by male but by female 
heirs. Every baron began to exercise sovereign jm'isdiction within his own 
domains ; and the dukes and counts of Germany took wide steps towards 
rendering their territories distinct and independent states. The Saxon 
Emperors observed their progress, and were aware of its tendency. But ^ 
they could not hope to humble vassals already grown too potent, unless they 
had turned their whole force as well as attention to that enterprise, and as 
they were extremely intent on their expeditions into Italy, which they 
could not imdertake without the concurrence of their nobles, they were soli- 
citous not to alarm them by any direct attack on their privileges and juris- 
dictions. They aimed, however, at undermining their power. With this 
view they inconsiderately bestowed additional territories, and accumulate 
new honours, on the clergy, in hopes that this order might serve as a 
counterpoise to that of the nobility in any futiu'e struggle.' [Discussion fol- 
lows on the fatal efEects of the aggTandisement of the clergy, circa 1024 ; in 
the contests between the popes and the Emperors, and their consequences ; 



* Eobertson calls Conrad ' Coimt of Franconia ; ' he was in reality Duke. 



XII 



PEEFACE. 



the degradation of the Emperor Henry lY., and of the imperial dignity 
thereby ; on the rise of the two great factions of the G-uelphs and Ghibellines, 
owing to the contests between Henry IV. and G-regory YII. ; on the gradual 
decline of the imperial authority, and the great Interregnum.] 

' Kudolph of Hapsburgh, the founder of the House of Austria, and who 
first opened the way to its future grandeur, was at length elected Emperor, 
not that he might re-establish and extend the imperial authority, but be- 
cause his territories and influence were so inconsiderable as to excite no 
jealousy in the G-erman princes, who were willing to preserve the forms of 
constitution ; its -power and vigour they had destroyed. Several of his suc- 
cessors were placed on the imperial throne from the same motive ; and 
almost every remaining prerogative was wrested out of the hands of feeble 
princes unable to exercise or to defend them. 

' During this period of turbulence and confusion, the constitution of the 
Germanic body underwent a total change. The ancient names of courts and 
magistrates, together with the original forms and appearance of policy, 
were preserved ; but such new privileges and jurisdiction were assumed, and 
so many various rights established, that the same species of government no 
longer subsisted. The princes, the great nobility, the dignified ecclesiastics, 
the free cities, had taken advantage of the Interregnum which I have men- 
tioned, to establish or to extend their usurpations. They claimed and 
exercised the right of governing their respective territories with full sove- 
reignty. They acknowledged no superior with respect to any point relative 
to the interior administration and policy of their domains. They enacted 
laws, imposed taxes, coined money, declared war, concluded peace, and 
exerted every prerogative peculiar to independent states. The ideas of order 
and political union, which had originally formed the various provinces of 
Germany into one body, were almost entirely lost ; and the society must 
have dissolved, if the forms of feudal subordination had not preserved such 
an appearance of connection or dependence among the various members of 
the community as preserved it from falling to pieces. 

' This bond of union, however, was extremely feeble ; and hardly any 
principle remained in the German constitution of sufficient force to main- 
tain public order, or even maintain personal security. From the accession 
of Rudolph of Hapsburgh to the reign of Maximilian, the immediate prede- 
cessor of Charles V., the Empire felt every calamity which a state must 
endure when the authority of government is so much relaxed as to have 
lost its proper degree of vigour. The causes of dissension among that vast 
number of mem^bers which composed the Germanic body, were infinite and 
unavoidable. These gave rise to perpetual private wars, which were carried 
on with all the violence that usually accompanies resentment when un- 
restrained by superior authority. Eapine, outrage, exactions, became 
universal. Commerce was interrupted ; industry suspended ; and every 
part of Germany resembled a country which an enemy had plundered and 
left desolate. The variety of expedients employed with a view to restore 
order and tranquillity prove that the grievances occasioned by this state of 
anarchy had grown intolerable. Arbiters were appointed to terminate the 
differences among the several states. The cities united in a league, the 
object of which was to check the rapine and extortions of the nobility. The 
nobility formed confederacies on purpose to maintain tranquillity among 
their own order. Germany was divided into several Circles, in each of which 
a provincial and partial jurisdiction was established to supply the place of a 
public and common tribunal. 

' But all these remedies were so ineffectual that they served only to demon- 
strate the violence of that anarchy which prevailed, and the insufficiency of 
the means employed to correct it. At length Maximilian re-established 
public order in the Empire by instituting the Imperial Chamber, a tribunal 



PREFACE. 



XIU 



composea cf jiidges named partly by the Emperor, partly by tlie sererai 
£T:a.te5. and vested with authority to decide finally concerning all differences 
among the members of the Germanic body. A f e^v years after, by giving a 
new form to the Aulic Council, which takes cognizance of all feudal causes, 
and such as belong to the Emperor's immediate jurisdiction, he restored some 
degree of vigour to the imperial authority. 

' But, not^vithstanding the salutary effects of these regulations and im- 
provements, the political constitution of the G-erman Empire at the com- 
mencement of the period of the reign of Charles Y. was of a species so 
peculiar as not to resemble perfectly any form of government known either 
in the ancient or modem world. It was a complex body, formed by the 
association of several states, each of which possessed a sovereign and inde- 
pendent jurisdiction within its own territories. Of all the members which 
composed this united body, the Emperor was the head. In his name all 
decrees and regulations, vuth respect to points of common concern, were 
Issued ; and to him the povv-er of carrying them into execution was com- 
mitt-ed. But this appearance of monarchical power in the Emperor was more 
than counterbalanced by the influence of the princes and states of the 
Empire in every act of administration. Xo law extending to the whole body 
could pass, no resolution that affected the general interest could be taken, 
^thout the approbation of the diet of the Empire. In this assembly every 
sovereign prince and state of the Germanic body had a right to be present, 
to deliberate, and to vote. The decrees or recesses of the diet were the laws 
of the Empire, which the Emperor was bound to ratify and enforce. 

' Under this aspect, the constitution of the Empire appears a regular con- 
federacy, similar to the Achaean league in ancient Greece, or to that of the 
United Provinces and of the Swiss Cantons in modern times. But, if viewed 
in another light, striking peculiarities in its political state present them- 
selves. The Germanic body was not formed by the union of members alto- 
gether distinct and independent. All the princes and states joined in this 
association were originally subject to the Emperors, and acknowledged 
them as sovereigns. Besides this, they originally held their lands as impe- 
rial fiefs, and in consequence of this tenm-e owed the Emperor all those 
services which feudal vassals are bound to perform to their liege lord. But 
though this political subjection was entirely at an end, and the influence of 
the feudal relation much diminished, the ancient forms and institutions, ib- 
txodnced while the Emperors governed Germany with authority not inferior 
to that which the other monarchs of Emrope possessed, stiU remained ; thus 
an opposition was established between the genius of the government and the 
forms of administration in the German Empire. The former considered the 
Emperor only as the head of a confederacy, the members of which, by their 
VDlimtary choice, have raised him to that dignity ; the latter seemed to imply 
that he is reaUy invested with sovereign power. By this circumscance such 
principles of hostility and discord were interwoven into the frame of the 
Germanic body as affected each of its members, rendering their interior 
miion incomplete, and their external efforts feeble and irregular. The peF- 
niciotis influence of this defect inherent in the constitution of the Empire is 
BO considerable that, without attending to it, we cannot fully comprehend 
many transactions in the reign of Charles V. , nor form just ideas concenung 
the genius of the German government. 

' The Emperors ot Germany at the beginning of the sixteenth centtiry 
vrere distinguished by the most pompous titles, and by such ensigns of 
dignity as intimated their authority to be superior to that of all other 
monarchs. The greatest princes of the Empire attended and served them on 
some occasions as the oflacers of their household. They exercised preroga- 
tives which no other sovereign ever claimed. They retained pretensions to 
all the e^easiYe powers which their predec^sEora hid enjoy ^^d in any former 



XIV 



PREFACE. 



age ; but, at the same time, instead of possessing that ample domain which 
had belonged to the ancient Emperors of Grermany, and which stretched from 
Basil to Cologne, along both banks of the Ehine, they were stripped of all 
territorial property, and had not a single city, a single castle, a single foot 
of land that belonged to them as heads of the Empire. As their domain was 
alienated, their stated revenues were reduced almost to nothing ; and the 
extraordinary aids which on a few occasions they obtained were granted 
sparingly and paid with reluctance. The princes and states of the Empire, 
though they seemed to recognise the imperial authority, were subjects only 
in name, each of them possessing a complete municipal jurisdiction within 
the precincts of his own territories. 

' Erom this ill-compacted frame of government effects that were unavoid- 
able resulted. The Emperors, dazzled with the splendour of their titles and 
the external signs of vast authority, were apt to imagine themselves to be 
the real sovereigns of G-ermany, and were led to aim continually at re- 
covering the exrrcise of those powers which the forms of the constitution 
seemed to vest in them, and which their predecessors, Charlemagne and 
the Othos, had actually enjoyed. The princes and states, aware of the 
nature as well as extent of these pretensions, were perpetually on their 
guard in order to watch all the motions of the imperial court, and to 
circumscribe its power within limits still more narrow. The Emperors, in 
support of their claims, appealed to ancient forms and institutions which 
the states held to be obsolete. The states founded their rights on recent 
practice and modern privileges, which the Emperors considered as usur- 
pations. 

' This jealousy of the imperial authority, together with the opposition 
between it and the rights of the states, increased considerably from the time 
that the Emperors were elected, not by the collective body of G-erman nobles, 
but by a few princes of chief dignity. During a long period all the mem- 
bers of the Germanic body had a right to assemble and to make choice of the 
person whom they appointed to be their head. But amidst the violence and 
anarchy which prevailed for several centuries in the Empire, seven princes 
who possessed the most extensive territories, and who had obtained an here- 
ditary title to the g^reat offices of the state, acquired the exclusive privilege 
of nominating the Emperor. This right was confirmed to them by the 
Golden Bull ; the mode of exercising it was ascertained, and they were 
dignified with the appellation of Electors. The nobility and free cities being 
thus stripped of a privilege which they had once enjoyed, were less con- 
nected with a prince towards whose elevation they had not contributed by 
their suffrages, and came to be more apprehensive of his authority. The 
Electors, by their extensive power and the distinguished privileges which 
they possessed, became formidable to the Emperors, with whom they were 
placed almost on a level in several acts of jurisdiction. Thus the introduc- 
•lion of the electoral college into the Empire, and the authority which it 
acquired, instead of diminishing, contributed to strengthen the principles of 
hostility and discord in the Germanic constitution. 

'These were further augmented by the various and repugnant forms 
of civil policy in the several states which composed the Germanic body. 
It is no easy matter to render the union of independent states perfect and 
entire, even when the genius and forms of their respective governments 
happen to be altogether similar. But in the German Empire, which was a 
confederacy of princes, of ecclesiastics, and of free cities, it was impossible 
that they could incorporate thoroughly. The free cities w^ere small repub- 
lics, in which the maxims and spirit peculiar to that species of government 
prevailed. The princes and nobles to whom supreme jurisdiction belonged 
possessed a sort of monarchical power within their own territories, and the 
forms of their interior administration nearly resembled those of the great 



PEEFACE, 



feudal kingdoms. The interests, the ideas, the objects of states so differently 
constituted cannot be the same. 'Nov could their common deliberations he 
carried on with the same spirit while the love of liberty and attention to 
commerce were the reigning principles in the cities ; while the desire of 
power and ardour for military glory were the governing passions of the 
princes and nobility. 

* The secular and ecclesiastical members of the Empire were as little fittwi 
for union as the free cities and the nobility. Considerable territories had 
been granted to several of the German bishoprics and abbeys, and some of 
the highest offices in the Empire having been annexed to them inalienably 
were held by the ecclesiastics raised to these dignities. The younger sons of 
noblemen of the second order, who had devoted themselves to the church, 
were commonly pronaoted to these st-a-tions of eminence and power ; and it. 
was no small mortification to the princes and great nobility to see persons 
raised from an inferior rank to the same level with themselves, or even 
exalted to superior dignity. 

' The education of these churchmen, the genius of their profession, and 
their connection with the court of Eome, rendered their character as well aa 
their interest different from those of the other members of the G-ermanic 
body with whom they were called to act in concert. Thus another source of 
jealousy and variance was opened, which ought not to be overlooked when we 
are searching into the nature of the German constitution. 

' To all these causes of dissension may be added one' more, arising from 
the unequal distribution of power and wealth among the states cf 
Empire. The electors and other nobles of the highest rank not only pos- 
sessed sovereign jurisdiction, but governed such extensive, populous, and 
rich countries as rendered them great princes. Many of the other members, 
though they enjoyed all the rights of sovereignty, ruled over such petty 
domains that their real power bore no proportion to this high prerogative. 
A well compacted and vigorous confederacy could not be formed of such 
dissimilar states. The weaker were jealous, timid, and unable either to 
assert or to defend their just privileges : the more powerful were apt to 
assume and to become oppressive. The electors and Emperors, by tunis, 
endeavoured to extend their own authority by encroaching on thos« feeble 
members of the Germanic body, who sometimes defended their rights with 
much spirit, but more frequently, being overawed or corrupted, tamely sur- 
rendered their privileges or meanly favoured the designs formed against them. 

* After contemplating all these principles of disunion and opposition in 
the constitution of the German Empire, it will be easy to account for the 
want of concord and uniformity conspicuous in its councils and proceedings. 
That slow, dilatory, distrustful, and irresolute spirit which characterises all 
its deliberations will appear natural in a body the junction of whose mem- 
bers was so incomplete, and the different parts of which were held togethsr 
by such feeble ties and set at variance by such powerful motives. But the 
Empire of Germany nevertheless comprehended countries of such great 
extent, and was inhabited by such a martial and hardy race of men, that, 
when the abilities of an Emperor, or zeal of any common cause, could 
rouse this unwieldy body to put forth its strength, it acted with almost 
irresistible force.' 



ANALYSIS OF GEEMAN HISTORY. 



2Sa§ tjl be^ ^eutfd)en SSaterlanb ? 
(So nenne enblid) mir bag Hnbl 
@o tt)eit bie Seutfd^e 3unge flingt, 
Unb @ott tm ^tmmel Sieber fingt, 

foil e§ fein/ bag foil eg fein ! 
:Dag gauge 2)eutfd)lanb foil eg fetn !— ^r??^?^. 

*I have already avowed my belief, that to each of the nations of the earth 
belongs, by a divine decree, a distinctive character adapted to the peculiar 
office assigned to each in the great and comprehensive system of human 
affairs. Thus to France was appointed, by the Supreme Ruler of mankind, 
the duty of civilising and humanising the European world. To England it 
has been given to guide all other states to excellence in the practical arts of 
life, to commercial wealth, to political wisdom, and to spiritual liberty. But 
to G-ermauy was delegated the highest and the noblest trust which has been 
committed to any people since the Hebrews, the G-reeks, and the Romans 
fulfilled their respective commissions of imparting to our race the blessings 
of religion, of learning, and of law. For, in G-ermany, we revere the prolific 
mother of nations, the reformer of a corrupted Christianity, and the conser- 
vator of the liberties and independence of the European commonwealth. 
Weakened as she has been in defensive, as well as in aggressive, war, by the 
division of her territory into so many separate states, yet in that very weak- 
ness she has found her strength in the unambitious but beneficent career 
which, by the prescient will of the Creator himself, she was destined to 
pursue. The fathers of some of the most aged amongst us witnessed her 
first assumption of her rank and proper station in the republic of letters : 
and we ourselves are witnesses how, in that comparatively new region of 
national prowess, she has exhibited the same indestructible character which, 
more than a thousand years ago, enabled her to lay in this island the basis of 
a government, of which (if our posterity be true to their trust) another 
thousand years will scarcely witness the subversion. That England has her 
patrimony on the seas, France on the land, and G-ermany in the clouds, is a 
sarcasm at which a G-erman may well afford to smile. For reverence in the 
contemplation of whatever is elevated, and imagination in the embellish- 
ment of whatever is beautiful, and tenderness in cherishing whatever is 
lovely, and patience in the pursuit of the most recondite truths, and courage 
in the avowal of every deliberate conviction, and charity in tolerating every 
form of honest dissent — thfcse are now, as they have ever been, the \ital 

B 



2 



NAME AND LANGUAGE OF GERMANY. 



el^ents of the Teutonic mind. They may, indeed, not seldom have given 
birth to an unmeaning mysticism, to visionary hopes, and to dangerous 
errors. Yet, from their remotest ancestry, the Germans have received these 
gifts as their best and most enduring inheritance ; and, by the exercise and 
the influence of them, they impressed upon our own ancestral constitijtion 
much of that peculiar character which it retains to the present hour.' — /. S, 
Led, 



THE NAME OF GERMANY, 

* The name of Germani was first applied by Caesar to the whole nation east 
of the Ehine, though it properly belonged only to those tribes which he con- 
quered in Gaul. Tacitus states {Germ. c. .ii.) that the first tribe which 
crossed the Rhine were the Tungri, who were afterwards called Germani, 
which is supposed to be the same as "Wehrmann — that is, " man of war." * It 
is doubtful whether the Germans themselves employed any one name to 
designate the whole nation. Tacitus {Germ. c. ii.) divides them into three 
tribes ; Pliny {Nat. Hist. iv. 14), into eighteen; while later researches havs 
still further increased the number, f 

' The origin of the Germanic nations, like that of all others, is uncertain. 
Some authors, taking as their guides the aflBnity of languages, have traced 
their descent from the inhabitants of Asia ; and Von Hammer calls them a 
Bactriano-Median nation. It is now indisputably established that the Teu- 
tonic dialects belong to one great family with the Latin, the Greek, the 
Sanscrit, and other European and Asiatic tongues. All the positive know- 
ledge, however, that we have of the German nations previous to their contact 
with the Romans is exceedingly vague, and mere conjecture.' — K. N. C. 



THE GERMAN LANGUAGE. 

* The German language is divided into two great branches, which are sub- 
di^dded into several dialects — the High German, or language of Southern 
Germany ; and the Low German, or language of Northern Germany. The 
High German was formerly divided into two dialects, the Francic and the 
Allemannic. The Francic was the idiom of the Franks and of the French 
court till the reign of Charles the Bald, when it was replaced by the French. 
The principal monuments of this dialect are the fragments of a treatise 
of Isidore, De Nativitate Christi, which dates from the beginning of the 
eighth century, and a few other fragments. The Allemannic dialect pre- 
vailed in the south-western part of Germany, including a great part of 
Switzerland. Its existing monun;ents are two or three translations and 
paraphrases. Both the above-mentioned dialects seem to have disappeared 



* Or rather, man of defence ; referring particularly to those left in the 
country to defend it, when the younger active warriors had gone abroad. 
On the meaning and derivation of the present name of Germany, Deutschlandy 
see Appendix. 

t ' Their original seat was probably East of the Caspian. They were dis- 
tinguished by huge stature, blue eyes, and fair complexion. Their religion 
was a deification of the powers of nature : it still subsists in the Icelandic 
Eddas.'— G. Z. 



EARLY PERIOD — MIGRATIONS. 



3 



in the middle ages, and to have been replaced by the Suabian dialect, which 
became the language of the court under the Hohenstaufien dynasty, and in 
which the Minnesingers composed their poems. 

' The modem German, also called High German (Hoch Deutsch), may be 
considered as chiefly derived from the old High German, or southern dialects. 
Its universal usage as the literary language of all Germany dates from 
Luther's translation of the Bible, by which circumstance it acquired its su- 
periority. The Low German, or Saxon, may be divided into the Old Saxon, 
the Low German of the middle ages, and the modem Low German. The first 
of these three prevailed from the eighth to the eleventh centuries ; the second, 
from the eleventh to the sixteenth ; while the third is the spoken (but not the 
written) language over great part of the north of Germany, and is itself 
subdivided into many dialects. The chief literary work in the Old Saxon 
is the Evangelien Harmonie ; and in the Low German of the middle ages, 
Reineke Fuchs. The Frisian language is also a branch of the German.' — 
Knights N, C, 

FZ^ST GREA.T IVIZGXIATZOM- OF THS 

WATIOSTS (the Cimbri and Teutones)^ in number perhaps 
500,000 warriors, circ. 120 B.C. 

They march into Gaul, and are joined by Celtic and 
Helvetic tribes; defeat the Eoman consular armies of 
Silanus, Longinus, Scaurus, Mallius, and Csepio, B.C. 109- 
105 ; but are almost totally destroyed by Marius and Catulus 
at Aquae Sextise, B.C. 102, and at Verona, B.C. 101.* 

inraatf of X\)t (^ermaxtt, in conjunction with the Hel- 
vetii, into Gaul, under Ariovistus. They are defeated and 
destroyed by Julius Caesar, B.C. 58. Caesar crosses the Rhine, 
probably near Neuwied ; but effects no permanent conquests 
on the right bank of that river. 

Campaigns of Tiberius and Drusus against the Khaeti 
and Vindelici, who are reduced to submission, B.C. 15. 

Tiberius conducts the war in Germany, a.b. 4. 

' The Roman eagles were now permanently planted upon the shores of the 
Rhine and the Danube. The Teutonic tribes were either swallowed up in 
the multitude of the Eoman colonists which followed close upon the track 
of conquest, or driven back upon their ancient seats, and thi'ust as unwel- 
come guests upon their kinsmen in the heart of Germany. . . . For the first 
time, perhaps, since the creation of man, the current of migration was 
dammed up, and forbidden to flow for nearly three centuries.' — Mer, 

VARUS AND HIS ARMY OF THREE LEGIONS 

* Read Analysis of the History of Rome, by Turner, pp. 63, 64, and see brief 
sketch in Appendix to this work. 

B 2 



4 



EARLY PERIOD — WARS WITH RO^IE. 



CUT OFF BY AEMINIUS (or Hsrman), a.d. 9. Great 

importance of this defeat.* 

* Rome completely Latinised the Celt, assimilated him, made him her own. 
The Teuton was, morally speaking, of far less malleable materials and was 
never assimilated to his foe. The relations of Rome with Germany were 
always those of war — generally war to the knife. Csesar found in Ariovistus 
a spirit as haughty as his own, and soldiers as brave as the legionaries, pre- 
pared to contest the dominion of G-aul. His star did not desert him ; he had 
Ms usual fortune in the conflict, and gained a victory. But so far as Ger- 
many itself was concerned, the victory was a barren one. His laborious and 
skilful passage of the Rhine, undertaken with the object of spreading the 
terrors of the Roman name through all the central tribes of Germany, did 
not for a moment dismay those resolute savages, who boasted that they could 
uphold the heavens upon their lances, and had not slept beneath a roof for 
years. They renewed the struggle, and continued it until they stood as 
conquerors upon the Capitol. The darkest disaster in the Roman story— a 
disaster which destroyed the prestige of her hitherto invincible arms, broke 
the heart of the successful master of the world, and inspired the Roman 
mind with an alarm never afterwards wholly calmed — was wrought by the 
sword of Arminius upon the helpless legions of Yarus, in the dark recesses 
of the Teutoburger Wald. 

' It was something more than the loss of a certain number of men — good 
and tried -Soldiers though they were— which weighed upon the mind of 
Augustus on his deathbed. It was a foreboding of what was to come ; a 
sort of prophetic sentiment, which dimly saw, in these untamed sons of the 
forest, the inheritors of all his labours and of all the long glories of the 
Roman name.' — /. G. S. Led. 

Expedition of Drusus (a.d. 14-16), and conquest of 
the Cherusci and other tribes. He reaches the Elbe. 
Foundation of colonies on the Ehine. Drusus receives the 
surname of ^ Germanicus.^ 

' These nations (the northern tribes) were but too well known to the 
Roman people. They had destroyed five consular armies, encountered 
Marius, contended with Julius Csesar, annihilated Yarus and his three 
legions, and given the title of Germanicus to the first Roman of his age.' — 
S. Led. on H. 

jpar ti)e larger portion of ancient CGermang 
m&epenUent, unsub&ueti 3Jlome. Its tribes 
numerous; eac6 untrer a separate femg or cbiet 

' Germany, in the age of Tacitus, was divided among a number of inde- 
pendent tribes, difliering greatly in population and importance. Their 
country, overspread with forests and morasses, afforded no large proportion 
of arable land. Nor did they ever occupy the same land two years in suc- 
cession, if what Caesar tells us may be believed, that fresh allotments were 



* This battle is reckoned by Creasy as one of the decisive battles of the 
world. See Prof. Creasy' s weU-known work. 



THE GREAT MIGRATIONS. 



5 



annually made by the magistrates. But tMs could not have been an abso- 
lute abandonment of land once cultivated, which Horace ascribes to the 
migrating Scythians. The Germans had fixed, though not contiguous, 
dwellings, and the inhabitants of the Gau, or township, must have con- 
tinued to till the same fields, though it might be with varying rights of 
separate property. They had kings elected out of particular families ; 
and other chiefs, both for war and administration of justice.'— Zf. M. A. 

JLongr and vigrorous resistance of the Germans to 

tlie Roman arms. The Romans^ however, maintain 

their power on the right bank of the Rhine* and 

from the Z^aine to the Danube. 

' What lay outside the Roman empire, its provinces, dependencies, and 
allied states ? The answer is, " The barbarian world." The words, I am 
sure, convey to many of us an exceedingly indistinct image, or, perhaps it 
would be more correct to say, a number of images, forming a complex 
whole, whose limits and characteristic marks are so indefinite that it 
becomes impossible to combine them into a single, well-composed and intel- 
ligible picture. The Celt, the Teuton, the Goth, and the Hun ; the Vandal, 
the Avar, the Slave, and the Bulgarian ; the Frank, the Burgundian, and 
the Saxon ; German warriors, Scandinavian pirates, and the wild nomad 
races of Central Asia, pass before the mind's eye like the fantastic figures in 
a magic lantern, which confuse the sight when present, and are undistin- 
guishable in the memory when past.' — G, 

SEVE^ GREAT ItlZGRATZOXS OF THE GER- 
IVZAK-ZC N-ATZOX^-S TOWARBS THE SOUTH. 

The 1st about B.C. 113-101. The 2nd about a.d. 120. 
The Goths^ Vandals, Alemanni, Quadi, Burgundians, &c. 
The 3rd about a.d. 390. The 4th about a.d. 400. The 
5th about a.b. 440. The 6th about a.b. 490. The 7th 
about A.B. 550. 

' The German tribes may with great justice be compared to a swarm of 
bees. The mere love of fighting occasioned continual wars between them, 
either on the pretext of defending their frontiers from the aggTessions of 
their neighbours, or for the purpose of extending them ; and they had the 
custom of sending the young men, whenever the population became too 
numerous for the soil, annually forth to seek an existence in foreign lands, so 
that the surplus of their warlike population was unceasingly pouring across 
the frontiers. The earliest and most numerous migratory hordes, travelling 
from north to south, were apparently also German adventurers, such as the 
Cimmerii, Boii, and Senones ; and in later times, the Cimbri and Teutones ; 
the Suevi, under Ariovistus ; the Marcomanni, Quadi, Gette, and Bastarnse. 
The opposition they met with from the Bomans appears to have turned them 
eastward ; a circumstance which perhaps reveals the origin of the immense 
empire founded by the Goth, Hermanarich, between the Baltic and the 
Black Sea. These fierce nations again poured with irresistible fury from 
the north to the south and west ; opposition proved unavailing, and Goths, 
Alani, Vandals, Burgundians, Longobardi, Alemanni, Franks, Angli, and 
Saxons, spread like a torrent over the whole Roman empire. It was some 



6 CHARLEMAGNE — THE CARLOTIXGIAN EMPERORS. 



time after this migrration of these enormous multitudes before a large mass 
coulcl again collect for a similar purpose in Germany, where thev began to 
congregate into cities ; when the surplus population again took possession 
of the Slavonian coimtries, -vrhich were conquered in the times of the 
crusades, and colonized the shores of the Baltic. Since that period the 
destructive religious wars prevented a too great increase of population, and 
filled Holland and the distant colonies with thousands, who fled thither from 
persecution at home ; and within the last century several himdred thousands 
of German adventurers have gradually settled in America, on the TVolga, 
and in other parts of the world.' — J/. 

Inyasions of tlie Xortlimen in Germany towards tlie latter 
part of tliis period.* JEntrntfxtcttnn 0f Cl^risttanitp mtn 
(Strmaitii.t Gallant resistance of the Saxons against 
Charlemagne ; headed by ^'itikind^ a second Arminius.J 

©mptrc of C1&arkmagnc,§ A.D. 800^ from the Tiber 

and the Ebro to the Elbe and the Eyder ; including all 
France^ Germany, part of Pannonia^ part of Italy, and some 
of the islands of the Mediterranean. 'Perhaps the greatest 

eulogy of Charlemagne is written in the disgraces of succeeding times, and 
the miseries of Em-ope. He stands alone, like a beacon upon a waste, or a 
rock in the broad ocean. His sceptre was the bow of Ulysses, which could 
not be drawn by any weaker hand.' — H. J/. A. 

COlVZIVESN-CSIVISlia'T OF THE HISTOR? OF GEH- 
TfLA.NY, FRANCE, ZTAIilT, AS SEPARATE 

STATES, at the partition of the Carlovingian Empire at 
Verdun, a.d. 843. || 

The Empire is broken np into an immense number of 
petty states, and the Germans at this time divided into five 
separate nations, each under its o^m duke ; viz. the Franks, 
Suabians, Bavarians, Saxons, and the Lorrainers. 



* See the beautiful description in Milman'sZaz". Christ, vol. ii. bk. v. ch. ix. 
p. 431. 

t ' The Gospel was introduced into Germany about 727. VTinifred, an 
Englishman, afterwards called Boniface, made Bishop and Legate by Pope 
Gregory n., was the Apostle of Germojiy. Charles Martel conquered the 
rude tribes at the same time. The sword and the Gospel went together in 
Germany. Abbey of Fulda foimded by Stlirmi, 747. Monks the civilisers 
of Germanv. Monasteries the asvlums of peace in that troubled period.' — 
/. G. L. ' 

X Eead Milman, Hist, of Lat. Christ, vol. ii. bk. v. ch. i. p. 280 seqq. 

§ See Turnei-'s Analysis of English and French History, p. 88, for a brief 
sketch of the Empire of Charlemagne, and the references there given. For 
a good simimary read Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. i. ch. i. pt. i. pp. 9-14, and 
Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, chs. iv. and v. 3rd edit 

y See Appendix. 



CONRAD, DUKE OF FRANCONIA, 911. 



7 



*Out of respect to Charlemagne's memory, Charles the Simple and his 
descendants to the third generation were permitted to hold the crown of 
France ; but it was a crown without either power or splendour. Italy , with 
the imperial dignity ; G-ermany, with the neighbouring provinces of Lor- 
raine, Alsace, Franche-Comte, Dauphine, and Provence, were separated from 
the French monarchy. The last Carlovingian princes, reduced to the city 
of Laon, beheld the misery of their country, and the wars among their great 
vassals.'— (G-. M. W. p. 600.) 

' The time, about a.d. 890, was indeed the nadir of order and civilisation. 
From all sides the torrent of barbarism which Charles the G-reat had 
stemmed was rushing down upon his empire. The Saracen wasted the 
Mediterranean coasts, and sacked Rome herself. The Dane and Norseman 
swept the Atlantic and the North Sea, pierced France and Germany by their 
rivers, burning, slajdng, carrying off into captivity : pouring through the 
Straits of Gibraltar, they fell upon Provence and Italy. By land, while 
"Wends, and Czechs, and Obotrites, threw off the German yoke, and 
threatened the borders, the wild Hungarian bands, pressing in from the 
steppes of the Caspian, dashed over Germany like the flying spray of a new 
wave of barbarism, and carried the terror of their battle-axes to the Ap- 
pennines and the ocean. Under such strokes the already loosened fabric 
swiftly dissolved. No one thought of common defence or wide organisa- 
tion ; the strong built castles, the weak became their bondsmen, or took 
shelter under the cowl ; the governor, count, abbot, or bishop, tightened 
his grasp, turned a delegated into an independent, a personal into a terri- 
torial, authority, and hardly owned a distant and feeble suzerain. The 
grand vision of a universal Christian Empire was utterly lost in the isola- 
tion, the antagonism, the increasing localisation of all powers ; it might 
seem but a passing gleam from an older and better world. 

In Germany, the greatness of the evil worked at last its cure. When the 
male line of the Eastern branch of the Carlovingians had ended in Lewis, 
son of Arnulf, the chieftains chose, and the people accepted, Conrad the 
Franconian, and after him Henry the Saxon duke, both representing the 
female line of Charles. Henry laid the foundations of a firm monarchy, 
driving back the Magyars and Wends, recovering Lotharingia, founding 
towns to be centres of orderly life, and strongholds against Hungarian 
irruptions. He had meant to claim at Rome his kingdom's rights, rights 
which Conrad's weakness had at least asserted by the demand of tribute ; 
but death overtook him, and the plan was left to be fulfilled by Otho his 
eon.'— ^r. H. R, E., ch. vi. 3rd edit. 

Election of Conrad,^ Buke of Franconia, A.D. 911. 

* According to some vn-iters, descended through females from Charlemagne.' 
^H.M.A. From this time Germany becomes an ^Ittti^t ^XiX^ixt 

* At length th£ G-erman branch of the family of Charlemagne became 
extinct, and his feeble descendants, who reigned in France, had sunk into 
such contempt that the Germans, without looking to them, exercised the 
right inherent in a free people ; and, in the general assembly of the nation, 
elected Conrad, Count of Franconia, emperor.' — P. R. 

' The Germans, freed from the French yoke, elected for their king Conrad, 
Duke of Franconia, and after him a line of Saxon princes.' — G. 

' At the end of 

the ninth century, a Tartarian tribe, the Hungarians, overspreading that 



* See extract in the Appendix, as also upon Henry I. and Otho the Great. 



8 HENRY I.^ — OTHO I. THE GREAT — SAXON EMPERORS. 



■oountry which has since borne their name, and moving forward like a vast 
wave, brought a dreadful reverse upon Germany. Their numbers were great, 
their ferocity untamed. They fought with cavalry and light armour, 
trusting to their showers of arrows, against which the swords and lances 
of the European armies would nob avail. The memory of Attila was renewed 
in the devastations of these savages, who, if they were not his compatriots, 
resembled these both in their countenance and customs. All Italy, all 
Germany, and the South of France, felt this scourge ; till Henry the Fowler, 
and Otho the Great, drove them back by successive victories within their 
own limits, where in a short time they learned peaceful arts, and adopted 
the religion and followed the policy of Christendom. — H, M. A. 

ISlection of Henry Z., tlie Fowler ; of 

3SaC£ ; A.U. 919. The Saxon line of Emperors lasted 
about 100 years. 

* Henry the Fowler chastised the Hungarians, civilised his rude subjects, 
and was the first founder of cities in the interior parts of Germany.' — G. 

' After Conrad, Henry of Saxony, and his descendants, the three Othos, 
were placed in succession on the imperial throne by the sufErages of their 
countrymen. The extensive territories of the Saxon emperors, their eminent 
abilities and enterprising genius, not only added new vigour to the imperial 
dignity, but raised it to higher power and pre-eminence.' — P. R. 

' Henry laid the foundations of a firm monarchy, driving back the 
Magyars and Wends, recovering Lotharingia, and founding towns to be cen- 
tres of orderly life, and strongholds against Hungarian irruptions.' — Br, 

OTHO Z. THE CrREAT, King A.D. 936^ and crowned by 
Pope John XII., EMPEROR, A.B. 962, son of Henry I. 
^The ignip Eomait Empire is the creation of Otho the 
Great.'— -S. 

* otho the Great passed the Alps, gave laws to Italy and the Popes, and for 
ever fixed the Imperial digrnity in the German nation. He imposed 
a tribute on the vanquished Danes and Bohemians, and since that time the 
King of Bohemia has acknowledged himself the first vassal of the German 
Empire, which was treated with contempt by the Greeks, reluctantly sub- 
mitted to by the Italians, but respected by the rest of Europe. The second 
and third Otho, son and grandson to the first, supported, though with less 
vigour and capacity, the claims which he transmitted to them.' — G. 

Wars of Otho in Italy. Victories over the Huns, the 

Slaves, and the Hungarians. ' The Teutonic host, after the great 
deliverance of the Lechfeld, greeted Otho, conqueror of the Magyars, as 
" Imperator Augustus, Pater Patriae." ' — B. 

Great power of the Emperor Otho : he adds the kingr- 
dom of Italy to the German Empire ; tftj^po^r^ 0f tf)0 
Paparp at l^i^ ^^\^txti%\\ plta^ur^ ; and is the first Gei-man 
sovereign who is crowned King; of Italy (at Pavia), and 



EMPERORS OF THE FRANCONIAN LINE. 



s 



afterwards ismperor, at Kome^ with tlie title of C^SAB, 

AUGUSTUS. ' To Henry and the first Otho, G-ermany was more 
indebted than to any sovereign since Charlemagne. The conquest of 
Italy and recovery of the imperial title are indeed the most brilliant 
trophies of Otho the Great ; but he conferred far more unequivocal benefits 
upon his own country, by completing what his father had begim — her 
liberation from the inroads of the Hungarians. Two marches, that of 
Misnia, created by Henry the Fowler, and that of Austria, by Otho, were 
added to the Germanic territories by their victories.' — H. M. A. 

Otho conquers Apulia and Calabria^ and defeats the 
Saracens in Italy. 

lEmpcrors of t^c ftouseof jpranconia. TiieFran- 

conian line also lasted about 100 years, 

Conrad ZI. tlie Salic, 1024 A.D. annexes Burgundy to 
the Empire. He is succeeded by Henry III., 1039, one of 
the most powerful of the German Emperors, and Henry IV,, 
1056^ both of whom claim the rigM of investitures* and 
even of nominating the Pope. 

QUAEEELS BETWEEN THE EMPEEOE HENEY 
IV. AND THE HOLY SEE, Gregory Vll.t (Hildebrand) ; 
during which the Emperor alternately triumphs^ is excom- 
municated, goes to Eome and does penance^ takes up arms 
again^ makes an expedition into Italy, takes Eome, sets up 



* ' It appears certain that while Eome was regarded as a dependency of 
the Eastern Empire, the Popes, though still elected by the clerg^^, senate, and 
people, could not be consecrated to the papal chair until the election had 
been sanctioned by the Emperor at Constantinople. When they became 
independent of Greece, though acknowledged as heads of the church imi- 
versal, they were still not consecrated without the approbation of the Western 
Emperors. Hence arose the claim of the Emperors to nominate, or at least 
to ratify the election of, the Popes — a power which the Popes, so soon as they 
could do without their protection, declared unholy and degrading. The 
Popes, on the other hand, asserted the necessity of their crowning the 
Emperors before they could be lawfully acknowledged as such ; and laboured 
to prove that the right of disposing of the Empire was involved in this pre- 
rogative, and that Germany was once a fief of the Holy See. Thus the 
Emperors insisted that no papal election could be valid without their sanc- 
tion as lords paramount over Italy ; while the Popes contended that instead 
of being vassals they were the superiors of the Empire. The quarrel lasts 
till the Diet of Worms, 1122, and occasions much civil war and bloodshed/ 
—0. G. T. 

t Read on Gregory YII. (Hildebrand) the beautiful essay ' Hildebrand* 
in Sir James Stephen's Essays republished from the Edinb, Eev., vol.i., fraia 
which an extract is given in the Appendix, 



10 HENRY IV. AND HENRY V. — FIRST CRUSADE. 



an anti-Pope (Guibert)^ but is finally compelled to abdicate, 
owing to the rebellion of Ms sons Conrad and Henry (after- 
wards Henry V.^ who even imprisons his father). 

* The Franconian princes, Conrad the Salic, Henry III., and Henry lY., 
succeeded to the house of Saxony. These emperors possessed as much power 
as was compatible with the feudal system. Their great vassals were more 
accustomed to order and obedience than those of France. They enjoyed a 
large domain and revenue in Cermany. Italy, once the mistress, and since 
the slave of the nations, was treated as a conquered country. The right of 
granting the investiture of benefices, and even of the see of Rome, became 
in their hands an inexhaustible source either of power or of profit. Gregory 
VII., a monk of daring and obstinate spirit, embraced the pretence of 
abolishing simony, and the opportunity of delivering himselE and his suc- 
cessors from an odious yoke. The emperor was excommunicated and 
deposed ; and these spiritual arms were seconded, either from interested or 
pious motives, by the Normans, by the Countess Matilda, and even by the 
sons of Henry. Though he defended himself with vigour, and was victorious 
in sixty-six battles, the Church still maintained the war with new resources 
and inflexible resolution, and the Roman pontiff erected his mitre above all 
the crowns in Europe.' — G. 

Long wars of Henry IV. against the Saxons ; against his 
great vassals^ and Rudolf, the pretender to the Empire, 
supported by the Pope ; and against his own [Henry IV. 's] 
rebellious sons. 

Imprisonment, abdication, and escape of Henry IV., who 

dies* while raising an army against his son, afterwards 

Henry V., 1106. ' The Popes prevailed against their ancient sove- 
reigns, the Emperors of Germany, and deprived the unfortunate Henry IV. 
of his dominions, his reputation, his life, and the last honours of a grave. — 
G. M. W. 

Increase during this period of the wealth and power of 
Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and other cities ; which, by assisting 
the Crusaders in their operations, continued to secure for 
themselves important privileges and establishments in the 
Levant. C^c Jtot Cru^atft, 1095-1099.t 

HENEY V. (son of Henry IV.), 1106. King of Italy as 

well as Emperor of Germany. < a bad son, but a great emperor, 
whom misfortune might destroy, but could not bend. ' — M. 

Eenewal of the quarrel between the Emperor and the 



* On the character and achievements of this truly wonderful Emperor, 
read the article ' Hildebrand,' above referred to. 

t In this a large body of German nobles and soldiers took part ; but no 
German Emperor joined it in person. 



THE HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN. 



11 



Papacy respecting the right of investitures. The Emperor 
enters Italy and takes Rome, a.d. 1111, making the Pope 
(Pascal II.) prisoner, and compelling him to crown him and 
give up the right of investiture. After a further struggle of 
nearly ten years, during which the Emperor is excommuni- 
cated, again returns to Italy, takes Rome again, and is re- 
crowned there and is again excommunicated, the quarrel is 
ended, and the dispute settled at the Diet of Worms, 1122, 

in which Henry virtually 'resigned the long-contested right of 
investitures ; which was gradually usurped by the Roman pontiff ; and the 
clergy, instead of regaining their liberty, soon experienced a yoke still 
heavier when imposed by one of their own order.' — G. M. W. 

This long and obstinate quarrel gave rise shortly after to 

the fact ions of the Guelphs (ind Gliihellines. * During the eleven 
reigns, from Conrad II. to Lothaire II., the Emperors of Germany assumed 
the title of Roman Emperor, the feudal system became organised, the great 
vassals of the Empire became entirely independent, and the contest between 
the Popes and the Emperors commenced.' — K. N. C. 

Marriage of the Emperor Henry V. with Matilda^ daugh- 
ter of Henry I. of England : he dies childless.* 

LOTHAIRE, Duke of Saxony, is elected Emperor, 1125; 
and succeeded by 

|^ous£ of l^ofienstauftn* 

Conrad III., 1138. First of the House of Suabia or 

Bolienstaufen.t ' Handsome in his person, and replete with life and 
vigour, of undaunted and well-tried valour, Conrad stood superior to all 
the princes of his time, and seemed by nature fitted for command.' — M, 

jealous truce subsisted between the Church and the 
Empire during the reigns of Lothaire II. and Conrad HI.' 
— G, Conrad's election is disputed by Henry the Haughty, 
Duke of Bavaria, whose family name was Guelph, The 
Imperial army is commanded by Frederic, Duke of Suabia, 
the Emperor's brother, who was born at Wibelung in Fran- 
conia : hence his adherents called Ghibellines. J Orig>in of 
the factions of the Guelphs and Ghibellines. ' The greac 

* Matilda, after his death, married GeofEry Plantagenet, Count of Anjon, 
and had a son, Henry II. of England. 

t So called from their hereditary family seat, the castle of Staufen, at the 
outlet of the Suabian Alps. 

X Bead Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. ii. chap. iii. pt. i. p. 383. * About 



12 THE HOUSE OF HOHEXSTAUFEN — SECOND CRUSADE. 



struggle betTveen CHurcli and State, the Pope and the Emperor, had now 
com m enced, and centuries ^'ere to pass a^vay before its teimination. On the 
one side stood the Pope, supported by France and an im- German faction in 
Germany, hitherto the Saxon one, but. since Saxony had fallen to the Ba- 
varian TVelf, called the faction of "VTelis, or. as in Italy named, theG-uelphs. 
On the other side stood the Emperor, in defence of the prerogatives of the 
State against the Church, and of the interest and honour of the G-erman 
nation against the Italians and French. After the extinction of the Salio 
dynasty, the Staufen, mounting the throne, and naming their race after the 
Allod of AYaiblingen in the Reinsthal, the name of the YTaiblinger, or, in 
Italian, Ghibellines, "vvas gradually fixed upon the Imperial faction.' — M. 
Head also Arnolds Led. on Hist. lect. y. p. 194.* After the death of 

Henry the Haughty the war is still carried on by other 
members of his family. 

Roynantic stori/ of the Dtichess of Guelph and her ladies at 
Weinsherg, 

The Emperor joins Louis YH. of France in the Second 

Crusade, 1147—1149. ' in the twelfth century, three great emigrations 
marched by land from the "West to the relief of Palestine. The soldiers and 
pilgrims of Lombardy, France, and Germany, vrere excited by the example 
and success of the First Crusade. Forty-eight years after the dehreranceof 
the Holy Sepulchre, the Emperor and the French Elng, Conrad III. and Louis 
YIL, undertook the Second Crusade, to support the falling fortunes of the 
Latins. * * * 

' The armies of the Second Crusade might hare claimed the conquest of 
Asia ; the nobles of France and G-ermany Avere animated by the presence 
of their sovereigns ; and both the rank and personal characters of Conrad 
and Louis gave a dignity to their cause, and a discipline to their force, vrhich 
might be vainly expected from the feudatory chiefs. The cavah-y of the 
Emperor .?and that of the King, was each composed of seventy thousand 
knights and their immediate attendants in the field ; and if the light-armed 
troops, the peasant infantry . the women and children, the priests and monks, 
be rigorously excluded, the full account vill scarcely be satisfied vith four 
hundred thousand souls. The West, from Eome to Britain, was called into 
action ; the Kings of Poland and Bohemia obeyed the summons of Conrad ; 
and it is afi&rmeci by the Greeks and Latins that in the passage of a strait or 
river, the Byzantine agents, after a tale of nine htmdred thousand, desisted 
from the endless and formidable computation.' — G. The Emperor's 

army marches by land to Constantinople^ crosses the Bospho- 
rus^ and, after having suffered frightfully from the treachery 
of the Greeks and their Emperor Manuel, is defeated and 
destroyed by the Sultan of Iconium, 1146. The army of 
Louis YH. is destroyed the year after, 1147, at Laodicea. 



the year 120% or perhaps a little later,' &c. An extract is given in the 
Appendix. 

* An extract of this is given in the Appendix. The German scholar will 
find the History of the Hohenstaufen Dynasty, by Fred. Raumer, replete with 
interest. 



FREDERIC I. BARBAROSSA. 



13 



The commercial union called the Hanseatic League "begins 
to be formed by a number of port towns against the piracies 
of the Swedes and Danes, 1164. 

Disastrous Failure of the Crusade^ and return of Conrad, 

after haying lost his army. ' Though the sermons of St. Bernard 
excited a second crusade more formidable than the first, the far greater part 
of the numerous armies which followed the Emperor Conrad and Louis YII. 
perished by the artifices of the Creeks and the arms of the Turks, and these 
monarchs appeared in the Holy Land rather as pilgrims than as conquerors.' 
—G. M. W. 

Conrad III. adopts and is succeeded by his nephew, 
Frederic Z.Barbarossa,^ Dake of Suabia, who is elected 
Emperor and King at a diet held at Frankfurt, 1152. *Firm 

and persevering, a deep politician, and a wise statesman. To guarantee the 
internal unity and the external security of the state was his preponderating 
idea ; and, regardless of the animosity with which the Cerman princes 
secretly sought to undermine the imperial authority, he directed his princi- 
pal forces against his most dangerous enemy, the Pope, and rightly concluded 
that he could alone overcome him in Italy. Those who charge him with 
neglect of the afEairs of Germany, forget the times in which he lived. The 
peaceful government of Germany was alone to be secured by the imposition 
of shackles on the Pope. — M. 

Frederic's expedition into Italy ; war with the Milanese. 

* In Frederic Barbarossa the Italians found a very different sovereign from 
the last two emperors, Lothaire and Conrad III., who had seldom appeared 
in Italy, and with forces quite inadequate to control such insubordinate 
subjects. The distinguished valour and ability of this prince rendered a 
severe and arbitrary temper, and a haughty conceit of his imperial rights, 
more formidable. He believed or professed to believe the magnificent ab- 
surdity that, as successor of Augustus, he inherited the kingdom of the 
world. In the same right he, more powerfully, if not more rationally, laid 
claim to the entire prerogatives of the Roman Emperors over their own 
subjects ; and in this the professors of the civil law, which was now dili- 
gently studied, lent him their aid with the utmost servility. To such a dis- 
position the self-government of the Lombard cities appeared mere rebel- 
lion. Milan especially, the most renowned of them all, drew down upon 
herself his inveterate resentment.' — H. M. A. JJq jg crOWned at 

Home, after performing what nearly amounted to an act of 
homage to the Pope, Adrian IV. (Nicholas Breakspear, the 
only Englishman ever Pope) 5 1156. 

Power of Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria, 
in the North of Germany. 

Fresh wars of Frederic in Italy against the Italian cities^ 
ichichforjn a League (1167) to maintain their liberties, from 



* Read on Frederic Barbarossa the very interesting article, Frederick 
King of Italy, in ^^at. Rev. for Jan. 1861. 



14 



FREDERIC I. BARBAROSSA— ITALIAN WARS. 



1158-1183. He makes in all four great expeditions, during 
wMch lie takes Milan, Rome, and many other cities j ^f^Z 

pofotr of i\}t l^olg 3aoman ©mpiu at its guattst 

Seigftt;* Fresh war of the League of Lombardy against the 

Emperor Frederic. < The first overt act of insurrection, on the part of 
the Lombard cities, was the rebuilding of Milan, which the Emperor had 
in the previous war against the League, captured and razed. The con- 
federate troops all joined in this undertaking ; and the Milanese, still 
numerous, though dispersed and persecuted, revived as a powerful republic' 

H.M.A. Defeat of the Emperor by the Lombard League 

at Legnano j 11 / 6. « After several years of indecisive war, the Emperor 
invaded the Milanese teiTitory. The intrinsic' energy and resources of 
Lombardy were now made manifest. Frederic, who had triumphed over 
their disunion, was unequal to contend against their league. The con- 
federates gave him battle, and gained a complete victory at Legnano. 
Frederic escaped alone and disguised from the field, with little hope of 
raising a fresh army, though still reluctant from shame to acquiesce in 
the freedom of Lombardy.'—^. M, A. The Emperor is forced at last, 
after the defeat of Legnano, and the destruction of his fleet, and capture of 
his son Otho by the Venetians off Priano, to make a truce for six years, and 
finally to agree to the articles of Tlie Peace of Constance,t 1183, 
Tvhich establishes the independence of the Italian Eepublics. 

* The accession of Frederic Barbarossa forms the commencement of a new 
period, the duration of which is about 100 years, terminating with the 
death of Conrad lY. , the last of the house of Suabia. It is characterised 
by three distin^juishing features in Italian history : the victorious struggle 
of the Lombard and other cities for independence, the final establishment 
of a temporal sovereignty over the middle provinces by the Popes, and 
the union of the kingdom of Naples to the dominions of the House of 
Suabia. —ZT. M. A. 

Visit of Frederic in person to Venice, to ratify the truce, 
after the defeat of his lieet, 1177. Submission to and re- 
conciliation with the Pope, Alexander III., who removes 
the ban of excommunication, and is said to have set his foot 
on the prostrate Emperor's neck in the portico of St. Mark: 

^ et mihi et JPetro.^X 

Frederic joins the Third Crusade, with Eichard I. and 
Philip Augustus, 1189. Marches across Hungary and 

* Eead the very interesting extract from Bryce, p. 81, given in the Ap- 
pendix, on the extent, &:c. , &c. , of the Empire at this period. 

t Eead on the peace of Constance, Hallam, //j,s^ oftheJIiddleAges, vol. ii. 
chap. iii. pt. i. pp. 375-378. 

t Read ch. i. p. 70 segq. of that very pretty book, Sketches of Venetian 
History, 2 vols., published in the Family Libmry. The story of the Pope's 
having set his foot on the Emperor's neck is considered by Mr. Bryce tf- 
be quite mjahical. 



THIRD CRUSADE. 



15 



Eoiimelia to Constantinople. * Fifteen thousand knigMs, and as 
many squires, the flower of German chivalry, sixty thousand horse, and one 
hundred thousand foot, were mustered by the Emperor, in the plains of 

Hungary.'— (?. Marches by Philadelphia and Laodicea to 
Iconium, constantly defeating the Turks ; wins the battle 
of Iconium ; but is drowned while crossing the Ca.licadnus 

(the Seleph^) in Cilicia, 1190. « Perhaps the Turks had still more 
to fear from the veteran genius of Frederic I., who in his youth had served 
in Asia under his uncle Conrad. Forty campaigns in Germany and Italy 
had taught Barbarossa to command ; and his soldiers, even the princes of 
the empire, w^re accustomed under his rei^n to obey. As soon as he lost 
Bight of Philadelphia and Laodicea, the last cities 6f the Greek frontier, he 
plunged into the salt and barren desert, a land (says the historian) of horror 
and tribulation. During twenty days, every step of his fainting and sickly 
march was besieged by the innumerable hordes of Turkmans, whose num- 
bers and fury seemed after each defeat to multiply and inflame. The Em- 
peror continued to struggle and to sufl'er ; and such was the measure of 
his calamities, that when he reached the gates of Iconium no more than one 
thousand knights were able to ser^^e on horseback. By a sudden and resolute 
assault he defeated the guards, and stormed the capital of the sultan, who 
humbly sued for pardon and peace. The road was now open, and Frederic 
advanced in a career of triumph, till he was unfortunately dro\^'ned in a 
petty torrent of Cilicia. The remainder of his Germans was consumed by 
sickness, and desertion ; and the Emperor's son soon expired with the greatest 
part of his Suabian vassals at the siege of Acre. Among the Latin heroes 
Godfrey of Bouillon and Frederic Barbarossa alone could achieve the passage 
of the lesser Asia ; yet even their success was a warning ; and in the last 
and most experienced age of Crusades, every nation preferred the sea to the 
toils and perils of an inland expedition. — G. 

His body is recovered from the river^ and buried in the 
chui'ch of St. Peter's at Antioch : a miserable remnant of 
his mighty army, some 5,000 or 6^000 men only, return 

from the Crusade. « PMlip Augustus and Richard I., who preferred 
the safer but more expensive method of transporting their troops by sea, took 
the inconsiderable town of St John d'Acre, after a siege of two years. This 
Third Crusade was followed by the death of Saladin, who left a name admired 
in Asia, dreaded and esteemed in Europe. — G. M. W. 

Legends speak of this Emperor, as after his death still 
alive, destined to appear again as a future deliverer of the 
German Empire, like Arthur in British story. 

Origin, during the Third Crusade, of the Order of Ctutonir 
llntQ^ts.t Gradual increase of the power and wealth of 
the greater towns in Germany, « which become legal corporations, 



* Besides the extract from Gibbon, vol. x. ch. lix. given in the text, read 
Menzel, vol. i. ch. clii. p. 482. 

t Read Menzel, vol. i. ch. cliii. p. 489 ; and Milman's Lat. Christ, bk. xiL 
ch. Y. p. 402 seqq. See also ' Teutonic Order,' in the Appendix. 



16 



THE HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN. 



and purchase immnnities more or less considerable. Even the peasant began 
to be distinguished from the rest of the cattle on his lord's estate.' 

Henry VI., surnamed Asper or the Sliarp^ son of Fre- 
deric Barbarossa, EMPEKOR AND KING OF ITALY, 
1190. 

* Henry inherited his father's energy, but was devoid of his nobler quali- 
ties. He made use of ignoble means for the attainment of his purposes, was 
cold-blooded and cruel. True to his father's principles, he sought to lower 
the authority of the Pope in Italy itself.' — M. 

Richard 1. Coeur de Lion seized on his return from Pales- 
tine, 1191, "by Leopold, Duke of Austria, 'the cowardly captor of 
an unarmed foe,' and imprisoned in the castle of Durenstein on 
the Danube. He is brought by the Emperor before a diet 
at Worms, and accused of the murder of Conrad of Mont- 
serrat, and of withholding their share of the booty taken at 
Acre from the Germans ; ransomed, and returns to England, 
1194.* 

The Emperor claims the throne of Sicily and Naples ; 
makes an expedition into Italy; takes possession of the 
South of Italy ; receives the surrender of Naples j conquers 
Sicily \ exercises frightful cruelties on the partisans of the 
ancient Norman dynasty ; is excommunicated by the Pope, 
Celestine III. ; a measure the Emperor treats with con- 
tempt. Henry meditates the conquest of Greece, and of the 
whole Christian East and Constantinople. Crusade for this 
object sent out by the Emperor, under the Chancellor Con- 
rad, the Dukes of Austria, Carinthia, Thuringia, and other 
nobles ; Cyprus, Crete, and the cities of Sidon, Berytus, and 
Thoron taken. 

Sudden death of the Emperor at Messina, in the prime of 

life, possibly from poison, 1197, 'leaving a daughter, Constance, 
who survived him but a year, and an infant child of four years old ; after- 
wards the Emperor Frederic II.' — H. M. A. 

During the same year INNOCENT III. SUCCEEDS 
TO THE PAPACY, WHICH HE RAISES TO ITS 

GREATEST HEIGHT. 'During the minority of Henry VI.'s 



* After agreeing, it is said, to hold tte crown of England as a fief of the 
Holy Roman Empire. 



THE HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN. 



17 



infant son (afterwards Frederic II.), whom he had prevailed upon the 
princes of Germany to elect as his successor, the Papal chair was filled by 
Innocent III., a name second only, and hardly second, to that of Gregory 
VII. Young, noble, and intrepid, he united with the accustomed spirit of 
ecclesiastical usurpation, which no one had ever carried to so high a point, 
the more worldly ambition of consolidating a separate principality for the 
Holy See in the centre of Italy. * * * The creation of this ecclesiastical 
state is the great work of Innocent III., and his is the proper era of that 
temporal sovereignty which the bishops of Rome possess over their own 
city, though still prevented by various causes, for nearly three centuries, 
from becoming unquestioned and unlimited.' — H. M. A. i l^f)\([£ 

ontt more mistugs of tfit toorlU, anU its femgs itx 

THE SUCCESSION TO THE EMPIEE IS DIS- 
PUTED BY 

Philip, Duke of Suabia, brother to the late Era-v 
per or, and ! 
Otho (IV.), Duke of Saxony, son of Henry the [ ^l^^- 

Lion, j 
Philip, elected Emperor at Miihlhausen, is supported by 
the bishops of Northern Germany, and by the faction of the 
Ghibellines. 

Otho, elected Emperor at Cologne, is supported by the 
Pope and the faction of the Guelphs. 

' otho jecognises the Pope as his liege, and takes an oath of unconditional 
obedience to him, the Pope declaring at the same time to the princes of Ger- 
many that the election depended on him alone, kings reigning over separate 
countries, the Pope over the universe. — M. 

Philip and his partisans excommunicated by the Pope. 
Feud and war between the rival Emperors till 1208. Otto- 
car, of Bohemia, a monster of cruelty, supports Philip first, 
and then Otho. Otho's partisans defeated ; his cause be- 
comes hopeless 5 but Philip is assassinated in a private 
quarrel; and 

[Interru^ption of the House 'of Hohenstaufen.'] 

OTHO IV., the Guelph (Duke of Saxony), BECOMES 

SOLE EMPEROR, 1208. 'Otho rV. was son of Henry the Lion, 
and consequently head of the Guelphs. On his obtaining the imperial 
crown, the prejudices of Italian factions were diverted out of their usual 



* Bead Menzel, vol. i. p. 499 : * Innocent III., by his masterly,' &c., &C 
C 



18 THE HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN — FOUETH CRUSADE. 



channel. He was soon engaged in a quarrel with the Pope, whose 
hostility to the Empire was certain, into whose ever hands it might fall.'' — 

H. M. A. He first submits to^ and afterwards quarrels with, 

tlie Pope, ' reroMng the concession he had made to the Pope of the lands 
of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany (' the great Countess ')y the right of in- 
vestiture, and of induction of bishops ; and violating his oath of uncon- 
ditional obedience.' 

The Pope (Innocent III.) excommunicates Otho, 1211, 
and favoiu's the invitation sent by the partisans of the 
House of Hohenstaufen to Frederic of Palermo, the young 
King of Sicily (son of Henry VI.), to become Emperor. 

During this period, tlie Fourth Crusade is undertaken 
by the Germans, French, and Venetians. The Crusaders of 
the two latter nations go no further than Constantinople, 
which they take twice, 1203 and 1204, under Baldwin, Count 
of Flanders, the Marquis of Montserrat, and the Doge Dan- 
dolo. The German crusaders go separately, influenced by 
the dread of excommunication, to Acre, under the Abbot 
Martin, of Alsace ; but eiFect nothing-. 

Frederic quits Sicily ; crosses the Alps in the disguise of 
a pilgrim; is jo}rfully received, while Otho retreats from 
place to place. Frederic holds his first diet at Frankfort, as 
[The House of Hohenstaufen re-elected?^ 

Frederic ZZ. (son of Henry VL, of the line of Hohen- 
staufen), 1213. ' The grandchild of the great Barbarossa was every- 
where received with a delight to which his wisdom, extraordinary for his 
years, and the nobility of his address, contributed as much as his personal 
beauty.' — J/. ' Frederic II. , the grandson of Barbarossa, was successively 
the pupil, the enemy, and the victim of the Church.' — G. 

About this period, 1213, the marvellous madness of tl)^ 

* See Menzel, vol. i. ch. civ. p. 505. It is quaintly described in Fuller's 
Hist, of the Holy War, ch. xxiv. — ' In the beginning of this reign, an'accident 
(whether monstrous or miraculous) f eU out in France. A boy (for his years) 
went about singing in his tongue, 

" Jesus, Lord, repair oxvc loss ; 
Eestore us to thy holy cross." 
Nimiberless children ran after him, and followed the same tune their captain 
and chanter did set them. ISTo bolts, no bars, no fear of fathers or love of 
mothers, could hold them back, but they would to the Holy Land to work 
wonders there : tiU their merry music had a sad close, all either perishing 



STRUGGLES WITH ITALY AND THE POPE. 19 



The Emperor^ Otho IV.^ tlie Guelph, continues to maintain 
his authority in the North of Germany ; allies himself with 
King John of England against Philip Augustus of France ; 
fights^ loses^ and is wounded in the battle of Bovines ; retires 
to Brunswick^ where he continues to defend himself till his 
death in 1218. 

Frederic II. is solemnly crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, 

1215. ' The imperial regalia were delivered by Henry, son of Otho, to 
Frederic, to whom also France courteously restored the banner of the em- 
pire — the Imperial Eagle on the high chariot of State, the carroccio, which 
had been taken at Bovines.'— M. Death of the Pope, Innocent HI., 

next year ; succeeded by Honorius III.^ 1216. 

^trpctual struggle of t!)£ CBmptror m Italg 
against t])t ^apal anft ti)e Italian cities; 

and continual war hetiveen the factions of the Guelphs and 
Ghihellines in Italy. The Emperor is twice excommuni- 
cated, 1227 and 1238. 'The superior abilities of Frederic II., his 
Italian education, the imperial sceptre, thekingdom of the two Sicilies, and 
the vast possessions of the House of Suabia, rendered him formidable to the 
Popes, who, unmindful of their accustomed policy, had rather assisted than 
checked his elevation. This fatal error could only be retrieved by the 
destruction of the House of Suabia, and the design was prosecuted during 
more than forty years vT.th a constancy worthy of the ancient senate. The 
Boman pontiffs seized the first ground of dispute, rejected all terms of 
peace, and convinced both their friends and their enemies that they were 
resolved either to perish or to conquer. The parties of the Church and of 
the Empire, under the names of Guelphs and G-hibellines, divided and deso- 
lated Italy. Amidst this confusion. Innocent lY. solemnly deposed Frederic 
in the Council of Lyons, and pursued that unforttmate monarch to the 
grave.— G^. M. W. 

Peace between the Emperor and the Lombard cities ; great 
power of Venice after the conquest of Constantinople ; war 
between Venice and Genoa.* After many delays and gTeat 
preparations^ Prederic II. heads, though under the ban of 
excommunication, the Sixtli Crusade;.t 1228, and obtains 
the surrender of Jerusalem. 

on land or drowned by sea. It was done,.saith my author,. Sfatthew Paris, by 
the instinct of the devil, who, as it were, desired a cordial of children's blood 
to comfort his weak stomach, long cloyed with murdering of men.' 

* Eead SketcTies of Venetian History, ' Family Library,' vol. i. ch. v. 

t Head, on the conduct of the Pope Honorius III. with regard to this 
Crusade, and his treatment of Frederic 11. , the remarks of Hall am,. Mid.^ 
Ages, vol. ii. ch» iii. pt. i., ' It was the custom of every Pope/ &c«, 

C 2 



20 THE HOUSE OF HOHENSTAUFEN — SIXTH CRUSADE. 



' At length the Emperor hoisted sail at Brundusium, with a fleet and army 
of 40,000 men ; but he kept the sea no more than three days ; and his hasty 
retreat, which was ascribed by his friends to a grievous indisposition, wa3 
accused by his enemies as a voluntary and obstinate disobedience. For sus- 
pending his vow was Frederic excommunicated by G-regory IX. ; for pre- 
suming, the next year, to accomplish his vow, he was again excommunicated 
by the same Pope. While he served under the banner of the cross, a crusade 
was preached against him in Italy ; and after his return he was compelled 
to ask pardon for the injuries which he had suffered. The clergy and mili- 
tary orders of Palestine were previously instructed to renounce his com- 
munion and dispute his commands ; and in his own kingdom the Emperor 
was forced to consent that the orders of the camp should be issued in the 
name of G-od and of the Christian republic. Frederic entered Jerusalem in 
triumph ; and with his own hands (for no priest would perform the ofl&ce) 
he took the crown from the altar of the Holy Sepulchre. But the patriarch 
cast an interdict on the church which his presence had profaned ; and the 
knights of the Hospital and Temple informed the Sultan how easily he might 
be surprised and slain in his unguarded visit to the river Jordan. In such 
a state of fanaticism and faction, victory was hopeless, and defence was 
difficult ; but the conclusion of an advantageous peace may be imputed to 
the discord of the Mahometans, and their personal esteem for the character 
of Frederic. The enemy of the Church is accused of maintaining with the 
miscreants an intercourse of hospitality and friendship, unworthy of a 
Christian ; of despising the barrenness of the land ; and of indulging a 
profane thought — that if Jehovah had seen the kingdom of Naples, he 
never would have selected Palestine for the inheritance of his chosen people. 
Yet Frederic obtained from the Sultan the restitution of Jerusalem, of 
Bethlehem and Nazareth, of Tjre and Sidon : the Latins were allowed to 
inha, ^it and fortify the city ; an equal code of civil and religious freedom was 
ratified for the sectaries of Jesus and those of Mahomet ; and, while the 
former worshipped at the Holy Sepulchre, the latter might pray and preach 
in the mosque of the Temple, from whence the Prophet undertook his noc- 
turnal journey to heaven.* The clergy deplored this scandalous toleration, 
and the weaker Moslems were gradually expelled ; but every rational ob- 
ject of the Crusades was accomplished without bloodshed ; the churches 
were restored, the monasteries were replenished, and in the space of fifteen 
years the Latins of Jerusalem exceeded the number of 6,000.' — G, 

Eeturn of the Emperor from the Crusade ; he marches 
into Italy ; reconciliation with the Pope, who releases him 
from the interdict. Efforts of Frederic to prevent the in- 
ternal dissolution with which the Empire was threatened 
from the ambitious aspirations of the Church, the nobility, 
and the great cities, to independence. He endeavours first 
to create a well-regulated temporal State in his Italian 



* The Mahometan traditions on this subject are given in Barclay's CV??/ of 
the Great King, and in Robinson's Researches in the Holy Land, in their 
descriptions of the famous Mosque of Omar. They are mentioned also in 
Mr. Porter's Handbook to Palestine. The keeper of the Mosque of Omar still 
points out to the traveller the mark of the horseshoe of Barak, Mahomet's 
angelic steed, on the famous rock es Sakrah, which I had the pleasure of 
seeing and sketching in 18G2. 



THE VEHMGERICHT — WAR WITH ITALY. 



21 



kingdom, before carrying it out on a larger scale in the 
Empire of Germany. His object is to create a ministry to 
replace the irregular diets^ and to levy a tax instead of 
receiving tbe tardy and insufEcient imperial contributions. 
He publishes a code of laws in a great diet held at Capua, 
1231 but ' is before his aye.'' His innovations highly dis- 
please the Pope^ Gregory IX. 

The Vebrngericht or Feme (the secret tribunal) founded 
about this period ; and the design drawn out for the cathe- 
dral of Cologne. North Saxony shakes off the Danish yoke. 
Prussia and Ziivonia sulxlued and colonised by the 
Germans. 

Nine years of peace hetioeen the Papacy and the Empire ; 
cruel persecution of the heretics by the power of the Inqui- 
sition, to whose tender mercies the Emperor, proclaiming 
himself the most loyal subject of the Churchy abandons the 
suspected among his Lombard subjects^ not content with 
suppressing heresy in Germany. The Emperor assists the 
Pope (Gregory IX.) against his rebellious subjects the 
Komans. Rebellion of Henry, son of the Emperor (who 
had been left to govern Germany with the title of King of 
the Pomans), and treasonable league with Milan and the 

Lombard cities. ' The rebellion was a? weak, as wanton and guilty. 
Frederic entered Germany with the scantiest attendance ; the affrighted son, 
abandoned by all his partisans, met him at Worms, which beheld the sad 
sight of his arrest and imprisonment. — Mil. 

WAR BETWEEN THE EMPEROR AND THE 
LO^LBARD CITIES, deep in the conspiracy of Henry 
against the peace and power of the Emperor. Treachery of 
the Pope, who secretly supports them. Great victory of 
Corte Nuovo gained by the Emperor over the Lombard 

cities, 1237. ' The great battle of Corte Nuovo might seem to avenge 
the defeat of his ancestor, Frederic Barbarossa, at Leg-nano. The Carroccio of 
Milan, defended till nightfall, was stripped of its banners, and abandoned to 
the conqueror. Frederic entered Cremona, the palaces of which city could 
scarcely contain the captives, in a splendid ovation.' — 2Iil, HOSTILI- 
TIES RENEWED BETWEEN THE EMPEROR 
AND THE POPE. The Emperor again excommunicated, 



22 



HOUSE OF HOHEXSTAUFEiT. 



1239. He publislies an appeal to the Princes of Cliristen- 

doni. ' On Palm Sunday, and on tlie Tlinrsday in Holy Vy'eek, G-regory 
pronounced excommunicaiion againsr rlie Emperor ; gave over his body to 
Satan for the good of his soul : absolved all his subjects from their allegiance, 
laid under interdict every place vrhere he might be, and degraded all ecclesi- 
astics who shotild perform the services of the Church before him, or main- 
tain any intercora'se v,-ith him.' — Mil. 

Implacable hostility between^ and mutual abuse of each 
other by, the Emperor and the Pope. Adyance of Frederic 
on Eome ; death of the Pope Gregory IX. The Emperor 
again excommimicated by Innocent IV., 1243 ; and solemnly- 
deposed by him in the Council of Lyons, 1245.* 'The Pope, 

in the presence of the council, pronounced a sentence by which Frederic's 
excommunication was renewed, the Empire and all his kingdoms taken 
away, and his subjects absolved fi-om their fidelity. This is the most pompous 
act of usurpation in all the records of the Church of Eome : and the tacit 
approbation of a general council seemed to incoiporate the pretended right 
of deposing kings, which might have passed as a mad vaimt of G-regory Til. 
and his successors, with the established faith of Chiistendom.' — H. M. A, 

The Pope yainly attempts to raise Germany against the Em- 
peror, and sets up as anti-Emperor, first, Henry. Landgraye of 
Thuringia, and afterwards William the Eude, Coimt of Hol- 
land. Frederic defies the utmost efiorts of the Pope, but sus- 
tains a great reyerse at the siege of Parma, loses the brayest 
of his sons. Enzio. and meets ^yith treachery from his per- 
sonal attendants : dies suddenly, 1 1250. -The lusti-e of the seven 
crowns that adorned his brow, of that of the Eoman Empii'e, that of the 
kingdom of Germany, the iron diadem of Lombardy. and those of Burgtmdy, 
Sicily, Sardinia, and Jerusalem, was far surpassed by his intellectual gifta 
and graces.' — J/. 

Great extension and power about this period, 1245, 

of the first great commercial league, or Hansa, generally 

called the Hanseatic leag-ue.f ' But the real importance of 
the cities, Lubec, Hamburgh. Bremen. Eiga, Dantzic, Konigsberg, is to be 



* Read ^vlilman's Hist, of Lat. Christianity, vol. iv. (bk. Lx. ch. xr.) p. 429. 
t For the character of this ai-eat emperor, read llilman's Lat. C72?'isiianitu, 
vol. iv. p. 451. 

X ' The Hansa Leagtte extended to such a degree in the 13th and 14th 
centuries, as sometimes to include upwards of seventy cities ; its fleets ruled, 
the Northern Ocean, conquered entire cotmtries. and reduced powerftil 
sovereigns to sttbmission. The imion that existed between the cities was, 
nevertheless, far from firmly cemented, and the whole of its immense force 
was, from want of unanimity, seldom brought to bear at once upon its ene- 
mies.' — Men:, vol. ii. p. 63. ch. clxxvii. : see also p. 19. ch. clxxi. The term 
Hansa signified any association, the members of which paid a contribution. 
Kead also Hallam's Mid. Aacs, vol. i. ch. v. p. 92, ' As the to^^-ns were con- 
Bcious of the hatred/ kc, kc. 



CONRAD IV. CONTEST WITH THE POPE. 



23 



dated from their famous union into the Hanseatic confederacy. The origin 
of this is rather obscure, but it may certainly be nearly referred in point of 
time to the middle of the thirteenth century, and accounted for by the 
necessity of mutual defence, which piracy by sea and pillage by land had 
taught the merchants of Germany. The nobles endeavoured to obstruct 
the formation of this league, which indeed was in great measure designed 
to withstand their exactions. It powerfully maintained the influence which 
th^e free imperial cities were at this time acquiring. Eighty of the most 
considerable places constituted the Hanseatic Confederacy, divided into 
four colleges, whereof Lubec, Cologne, Brunswic, and Dantzic were the 
leading to^\^ls. Lubec held the chief rank, and became, as it were, the 
patriarchal see of the league, whose province it was to preside in all general 
discussions for mercantile, political, or military pm-poses, and to carry 
them into execution. The league had four principal factories in foreign 
parts, at London, Bruges, Bergen, and Novogorod, endowed by the sove- 
reigns of those cities with considerable pri^dleges,to which every merchant 
belonging to a Hanseatic town was entitled. In England the German 
giiildhall or factory was established by concession of Henry III., and in 
the later periods the Hanse traders were f avom-ed above many others in 
the capricious vacillations of our mercantile policy. The English had 
also their factories on the Baltic coast as far as Prussia, and in the do- 
minions of Denmark.—^. J/. A. The Ehenish League subse- 
quently formed to oppose and put down by force the 
heavy customs levied by the barbarous princes and knights 
on the Rhine. 

The news of the Emperor's death is received by the Pope 

with exultation. ' heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad!' 

Conrad IV., 1250 (son of Frederic II.), EiVIPEROR 
and King of Italy and Naples. The contest continued be- 
tween the Emperor and the Pope. ' The imperial cause was sus- 
tained in Upper Italy by Ezzelino, a valiant Ghibelline noble ; in Lower 
Italy by Manfred, one of the sons of the late Emperor.' — M. The war 

rages in Italy between the Guelphs and Ghibellines with 
horrible bloodshed. Conrad, driven from the field in Ger- 
many, takes refuge in Italy, where he dies, probably from 
poison; after his death (1254), the Pope, Urban IV., solicits 
the aid of Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX. Manfred, 
natural son of Frederic IL, defeated and slain, valiantly 
fighting at Benevento ; is buried under the ^rock of roses,'* 

* ' The hillock of stones, so called ; under which he was buried by the 
French soldiers, who, touched by his beauty and gallantry, each of them cast 
a -stone upon his body.' — Menzel, vol. ii. ch. clx. ; who quotes the reference, 
to him in Dante, Purg. canto iii. : — 

' L'ossa del corpo mio sarieno ancora 
In CO del ponte, presso a Benevento, 
Sotto la guardia della grave mora/ 



24 



DOWNFALL OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN. 



1266. Ezzelino defeated and killed at Cassano ; Ms rela- 
tions and adherents treated with frightful cruelty. 

DOWNFALL OF THE POWER OF THE HO- 
HENSTAUFEN IN ITALY. 

The cause of CONEADIN, THE LAST OF THE 
HOHENSTAUFEN FAMILY (son of Conrad IV.), he- 
comes hopeless j he retires to the Court of Louis of Bavaria 5 
makes a gallant effort to regain his inheritance in Italy 5 is 
defeated by Charles of Anjou and the French at Scurcola ; 
is betrayed into their hands by one of the Frangipani family, 
and beheaded in the market-place at Naples, 1268. < Thus 

terminated the royal race of the Hohenstaufen, in which the highest earthly 
dignity and power, the most brilliant achievements in arms, extraordinary 
personal beauty, and rich poetical genius, were combined, and beneath 
whose rule the middle age and its creations, the church, the empire, the 
state, religion, and art, attained a height, whence they necessarily sank as 
the Hohenstaufen fell, like flowers that fade at parting day.' — M. 

Power and wealth of the Lombard Republics, particularly 
Venice and Genoa, after the death of Frederic. War be- 
tween Venice and Genoa,* 1250. The leading citizens in 
the different Republics make themselves despots and often 
tyrants. The war of the factions rages. * The free cities of Italy, 

now delivered from the G-erman yoke, began to enjoy and to abuse the 
blessings of wealth and liberty. Of a hundred independent republics, every- 
one, except Venice, was destitute of a regular government, and torn by civil 
dissensions. The G-uelphs and the G-hibellines, the nobles and the commons, 
contended for the sovereignty of their country. The most trifling incident 
was sufficient to produce a conspiracy, a tumult, and a revolution.' — G. M. W, 

THIS 6:RSiLT inrTERRZSGHiruM, a period of about 
twenty-two years, from circ. 1250-1273, of iLITARCHir 
AOTB COEJPUSIOM', ' die haiserlose, die schreckliche Zeit, 
(Schiller) ; during which the temporal power of which the 
Emperor had been deprived, instead of falling wholly into 
the hands of his antagonist the Pope, was scattered among 
the princes and cities of the Empire. 

THE EMPIRE IS TRANSFORMED, through the 
usurpation by the princes of every prerogative, hitherto en- 



* Read Sketches of Venetian Hist. vol. i. ch. v. p. 191 seqq. 



THE GEEAT INTEREEGNUM. 



25 



joyed by the crown witliin their states, into a DUCAL 

AEISTOCEAC Y. The grreat 23ig:nitaries of the Empire 

become, about tbis period^ 1250, completely issde» 

pendent. ' Even in the eleventii century the imperial prerogatives 
began to lose part of their lustre. The long struggles of the princes and 
clergy against Henry lY. and his son, the revival of more effective rights 
of election on the extinction of the House of Franconia, the exhausting 
contests of the Suabian emperors in Italy, the intrinsic weakness produced 
by a law of the Empire, according to which the reigning sovereign could 
not retain an imperial fief more than a year in his hands, gradually pre- 
pared that independence of the German aristocracy which reached its 
height about the middle of the thirteenth century.' — M, A. Xhey 

strive^ aided by their feudal vassals and the clergy, to 
crush civil liberty by carrying on a disastrous war against 
the cities, in which they were warmly supported by the 
Pope. 

©utraats anJj imtix^ of t^t Hobter Bntgfits 

buring tftlS p^rioa. The cities form offensive and defen- 
sive alliances with each other. 

' In Germany, the death of Frederic II. was succeeded by a long anarchy. 
The prerogatives and domains of the Emperors were usurped by the great 
vassals. Every nobleman exercised round his castle a licentious independ- 
ence : the cities were obliged to seek protection from their walls and con- 
federacies ; and, from the Ehine and Danube to the Baltic, the names of 
peace and justice were unkno^im.' — G. M. W. 

Great power during this period of Ottocar, King of Bo- 
hemia, circ. 1254-1278. He invades Prussia and Lithuania ; 
conquers the duchies of Austria and Styria ; acquires Carin- 
thia by legacy ; conquers the Hungarians in the battle of 
Croisenbrunn, 1259. 

ANARCHY AND MISERY OF THE EMPIRE 
AT THIS PERIOD. The Flagrellants. 'it was at this 

period, too, that one of those extravagant outbursts of fanaticism, which 
constantly occurred during the middle ages, relieved men's minds in some 
degree from the ordinary horrors and miseries. Who is surprised that man- 
kind felt itselE seized by a violent access of repentance, or that repentance 
disdained the usual form of discipline ? 

' The Flagellants seemed to rise almost simultaneously in different parts 
of Italy. They began in Perugia. The pestilential frenzy seized Rome ; it 
spread through every city G-uelph and G-hibelline, crossed the Alps, and in- 
vaded G-ermany and France. Flagellation had long been a holy and merito- 
rious discipline ; it was now part of the monastic system. It had obtained 
a Mnd of dignity and importance, as the last sign of subjection to the 



26 



THE GREAT INTEEREGNUM. 



sacerdotal po^ver, the last mark of penitence for sins against tlie Clmrcli. 

SorereigTi princes, as Raymond of Toulouse ; kings, as Henry of England, 
had yielded their backs to the scourge. How entirely self-flagellation had 
become part of sanctity appears from its being the rehgious luxury of 
Louis IX. Peter Damiani had taught it by precept and example. Dominic, 
called the Cuirassier, had in^i-ted or popularised by his fame the usage of 
singing psalms to the accompaniment of self -scourging. It had come to 
have its stated value among works of penance. 

' The present outburst was not the effect of popular preaching, of the 
eloquence of one or more vehement and ardent men, working on the passions 
and the fears of a vast auditory. It seemed as if mankind, at least Itahan 
mankind, was struck at once with a sudden paroxysm of remorse for the 
monstrous guilt of the age, which found vent in this wild but hallowed form 
of self-torture. All ranks, both sexes, all ages, were possessed vi.th the 
madness — nobles, wealthy merchants, modest and delicate women, even 
children of five years old. They stripped themselves naked to the waist, 
covered their faces that they might not be known, and went two and two 
in solemn slow procession, with a cross and a banner before them, scourging 
themselves till the blood tracked their steps, and shrieking out their doleful 
psalms. They travelled from city to city. Whenever they entered a city, 
the contagion seized all predisposed minds. This was done by night as by 
day. Not only were the busy mart and the crowded street distm'bed by 
these processions ; in the dead midnight they were seen with their tapers or 
torches gleaming before them in their awful and shadowy grandeur, with 
the lashing sound of the scourge and the screaming chant. Thirty -three 
days and a half, the number of the years of the Lord's sad soj otirn in this 
world of man, was the usual period for the penance of each. In the burning 
heat of summer, when the wintn* roads were deep in snow, they still went 
on. Thousands, thousands, tens of thousands joined the ranks, till at length 
the madness wore itself out. Some princes and magistrates finding that it 
was not sanctioned by the Roman See, or by the authoritj" of any great 
saint, began to interpose. That which had been the object of general re- 
spect became almost as rapidly the object of general contempt. — 

Death of tlie anti-Emperor William, Count of Holland, 
1256, slain b j the Frisians. Fvesh competitors for the throne ; 
Count Hermann von Henneherg, Alfoiiso King of Castile, 
snd. Hichard JEarl of Cornwall, brother of Henry HI. of Eng- 
land, simultaneously elected, 1257 ; none of the three possesses 

any real power. « Both obtained their election by bribing the electoral 
princes : as for Alfonso, biuied in the study of astronomy, he never visited 
Germany : his rival was held in consideration only as long as his treasury 
was fuU? — 31. ' Richard owed the honour of his election entirely to his 
great wealth, which enabled him to bribe several of the electors. He was 
crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle, and occasionally exercised such of the imperial 
rights as could be exercised by the stroke of a pen, or the expenditure of a 
little sealing-wax ; but he never enjoyed any real authority in Germany.' — 
K. P. C. 

The Ehenish League of some sixty Rhenish and Suabian 
towns, in great strength, about 1270; destroys the fastnesses 
of the robber knights, which are still to be seen standing — 
the pictui*esc[ue memorials of those wild and lawless times. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSEUEG. 



27 



The Znterregrnum terminated "by the Election of 
Rudolph of Hapstourgr,^ 1273. 

[C5tn 3^{d)ter mv mteber anf (^vben— Schiller.'] 

' It was at length discovered that, ^vitliout an appearance of union, the 
G-ermanic body could not subsist. The great princes, v^'ho began to assume 
the title of electors, agreed to invest a first magistrate vith the dignity, but 
not vrith the power, of their ancient Emperors. Their jealous caution suc- 
cessively fixed on Rudolph, Count of Hapsburg, and Adolph, Count of Xassau, 
whose fortune was far inferior to their birth and personal merit. The former, 
however, who was father of the House of Austria, transmitted to his son 
Albert such ample hereditary dominions as enabled him to foiTn. a party 
against the Emperor Adolph, to vrrest from him the sceptre, and to display 
that ambitious pride which has ever since been the characteristic of that 
family.'— (?. J/. W. 

Zf^t IgOtl^r of Igap^iurg, 1273. «rrom the accession of 
Rudolph the history of Germany assumes a double aspect, that of the Em- 
pire, and that of the House of Austria.' — /. G. L. Coronation of the 

Emperor Elldolpll, ' the father of the House of Austria,'— G^. at Aix- 

la-Chapelle.t 

The Emperor does homage to the Pope, Gregoiy X., who 
came in person, for that object, to Lausanne ; receives the 
submission of Ottocar, King of Bohemia ; represses rebellion 
and restores order^ as far as his power permits him to do so ; 
destroys numerous castles of the robber knights ; grants 
charters to many cities ; gives his six daughters in marriage 

to six princes C Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube')^ and Suc- 
ceeds, though only during short and broken intervals^ in 
re-establishing order. 

Fresh war with Ottocar of Bohemia, 1275, who is de- 
feated and killed. Prussia finally conquered, after a 
long war, "by the Teutonic Order, the Prussians being 
extirpated, and their country colonised by Poles, Brabanters, 
Bohemians, and Germans, about 1280. { 



* So called from the castle of Hapsburg, in Svritzerland, on the Eeuss. 
t Read Schiller's beautiful ballad on the subject, beginning "KcidjiU 

in fetner ^ai[erprad)t, &c., &c. 

t Read in especial Milman's Laf. Christ, bk. xii. ch. v. vol. v. p. 404. ' For 
very many years the remorseless war went on. The Prussians rose again and 
again in revolt, but the inexhaustible Order pursued its stern course. It 
became the perpetual German Crusade. Wherever there was a martial and 
restless noble who f oimd no adventtire or no enemy in his immediate neigh- 
bourhood ; whenever the indulgences and rewards of this religious act, the 
fighting for the Cross, were wanted, without the toil, peril, and cost of a 



28 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



The Emperor invests his son Eudolph with the dukedom 
of Snabia^ and marries him to Agnes, daughter of Ottocar, 
the late King of Bohemia ; he invests his second son, Albert, 
with the dukedoms of Austria, Styria, and Carinthia, and 
marries him to the daughter of the Count of Tyrol ; but 
endeavours in vain to name him as his successor to the 
Imperial throne, and to make the Imperial crown here- 
ditary. * < The chagrin produced by the refusal of the princes hastened 
his death, which took place 1291. — M. 

During this reign, bloody feuds break out wherever the 
Emperor's power is not sufficiently confirmed to prevent 
them ; his eldest son Eudolph dies young, leaving an infant, 
Johannes, who was utterly neglected ; his second son, Al- 
bert, inherited the Hapsburg possessions; his third son, 
Hartmann, was drowned in the Rhine, near Lauffen. 
[Mttvxu^tiaix ot t^e ^mit at ^upihuxQ*] 

Adolpli of Nassau elected Emperor, 1291. « His election 

was managed by his cousin, G-erhard, Archbishop of Mayence, the arch- 
chancellor of the Empire, in the name of the Pope, by inducing the electors, 
who were divided in their choice, to commit it to him alone. The Emperor 
Adolph was a poor count, brave, but a slave to the lowest debauchery, and 
misguided by his intriguing cousin.'— If. Disgraceful concessions 

of his Imperial rights are extorted from the Emperor as the 
price of his accession.' t 



journey to the Holy Land, the old but now decried, now unpopular Crusade ; 
whoever desired more promptly and easily to wash off his sins in the blood 
of the unbeliever, rushed into the Order, and either enrolled himself as a 
knight, or served for a time imder the banner. There is hardly a princely or 
a noble house in G-ermany which did not furnish some of its illustrious 
names to the roll of Teutonic Knights. So at length, by their own good 
swords, and what they no doubt deemed a more irrefragable title — the 
grants of Popes and Emperors — the Order became sovereigns ; and the whole 
land became the absolute property of the Order, to be granted out, but to 
Christians only : apostacy forfeited all title to land.' 

* Read Bryce, ch. xiv. p. 246, 7th edition, on the Financial Distress of the 
Empire at this time. ' Things were so bad under Rudolph that the electors 
refused to make his son Albert King of the Romans, declaring that, while 
Budolph lived, the public revenues, which with diflaculty supported one 
monarch, could much less maintain two at the same time.' 

t Read Milman's Hist, of Lat. Christ, bk. xi. ch. vii. vol. v. p. 169. Be- 
sides other grants, immunities, and concessions paid as the price of hi$ 
election to the Archbishop and the Princes of the Empire, the Emperor 
agreed to make over all the Jews of ]\Ientz to the Archbishop, and not to 
intermeddle with causes which belonged to the Spiritual Courts, nor to 
allow them to be bronsrht before temporal tribunals. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



29 



Feuds rage througliout the Empire; the Emperor is 
treated with derision by his subj ects. < Along the Rhine, the lord 

of a single tower was usually a sovereign prince. The petty tyrants, whose 
boast it was that they owed fealty only to God and the Emperor, showed 
themselves in practice equally regardless of both powers.'— 5. 

The Emperor's reign one perpetual series of troubles. 
Albert^ son of the late Emperor^ Eudolph^ takes up arms. 
Adolph is deposed by the electors, or their deputies con- 
voked at Mayence. * The chief object of the magnates was to keep the 
monarch in his present state of helplessness. Their practice was to confer 
the Imperial crown on some petty prince, such as were Rudolph and Adolph 
of Nassau, seeking whom they could, to keep the crown from settling in one 
family. They bound the newly-elected to respect all their present immuni- 
ties, including those which they had just extorted as the price of their votes ; 
they checked all his attempts to recover lost lands and rights ; they ven- 
tured at last to depose their anointed head.' — B. 

Adolph is slain in battle, fighting bravely, by Albert, 

1298. ' The one great quality of Adolph of Nassau, his personal bravery, 
was his ruin : he hastened to meet his rival in battle near Worms, plunged 
fiercely into the fray, and was slain.' — Mil. 

[Ec--detttati of i^t ^m^t of igap^lburfl.] 
Albert of Austria (or Albert I.), son of Kudolph of 
Hapsburg, Emperor and titular King of the Romans, 1298. 

' This monster had at length, when hoary with age, obtained his joyless 
aim.' — M. ' Rudolph of Hapsburg transmitted to his son Albert such 
ample hereditary dominions as enabled him to form a party against the 
Emperor Adolph, to wrest from him the sceptre, and to display that am- 
bitious pride which has ever since been the characteristic of that family.* 
—G. M. W. 

Persecution of the Jews during this and the last Emperor's 
reign j exactions, tyranny, and cruelty of the bailifiB, ap- 
pointed by Albert, in Switzerland, led to the insurrection 

of William Tell. ' The three Cantons, Schwytz, TJri, Unterwalden, 
rise in arms. The story of Wilham Tell has been doubted by modem 
critics.'—/. G, L, 

Albert is at first excommunicated by the Pope (Boniface 
VIII.), as guilty of rebellion, treason, and murder; but 'the 

quarrel of the Pope with France and Philip lY. le 5^^, rendering the alliance 
with the Emperor a matter almost of necessity, the perjured usurper of the 
Empire, the murderer of his blameless predecessor, became, ^\i.thout diffi- 
culty, the legitimate King of the Romans, the uncontested sovereign of the 
Holy Roman Empire.' — Mil. 



War with Wenzel (or Wenceslas), King of Bohemia ; 



30 



THE HOUSE OF LUXEMBURG. 



Albert lays claim to Hungary ; assassinated by bis nepbew, 

J obn^ 1308, « No sovereign was ever less regretted.' — R. 

Tbe Imperial tbrone remains vacant about seven montbs; 
great power at this period of Philip IV. le Bel^ of France, 
who defies tbe Pope^ Boniface VIII., and bis famous bulls, 
' Ausculta Fill ' and ' TJnam Sanctarriy * seizes tbe Pope in 
Anagni, imprisons him, and claims the crown of Germany 
for bis brother, Charles of Valois ] electors fear bis power, 
and, dreading the Hapsburgs as much, resolve to raise a 
petty count, Henry of Luxemburg, to the throne. 

[Transference about this period of the Papal seat from 
Home to Avignon, effected by Philip IV. of France ; the 
Popes remain at Avignon for seventy years, from 1305-1375 j 
' the Babylonish captivity ) ^ the Papal Power dependent on 
tbe French Kings.] 

Henry of Iiuxemburgr (also called Henry Vir.) as 
Emperor, 1308, < known to fame as the best knight of the day in the 

lists.'— if. Proclaimed at Rhense,t on the left bank of the 

Ehine, near Brauchbach : ' at once a just, a religious, and a popular 
sovereign.' — ' One of the noblest monarchs that ever sat on the throne 

of Germany.'-i/. The policy of Henry VII. was to repel the 
assumptions and encroachments of France, to extend the 
power of the Empire abroad, to pacify the factions of the 
Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy, and to restore peace and 
tranquillity in Germany. 

(Srtat ^0£Dtr at tT)t^ ^txxQ^ qI l^t 3Imprrtal JFm 
€iiit^*X ^)^t^ tnm^^it at tljt^, or at a iSam^tDjat twditt 
jiertoU, one ni Vc^t nxtstxi of tl^e Mtt. 

' The period between Rudolph and Frederic III. is distinguished by no 

* Eead Milman's Hist, of Lat. Christ, bk. xi. ch. ix.vol. v. pp. 232 and 241. 

t Where was the Imperial seat, a species of lofty stone throne, called the 
Konigstuhl. Of the ancient throne little or nothing is left, but it has been 
supplied by a modern imitation, on the spot where the original stood. I 
have frequently seen it during walking tours up and down the river^s bank. 
See Badekker's Rhine Handbook, ' Rhense ; ' and Murray's Handbook to North 
Germany. 

X On this point read Hallam's Middle Ages, vol. i, eh. v. pp. 89^^2'. 



THE HOUSE OF LUXEMBURG. 



SI 



circumstance so interesting as the prosperous state of the free imperial 
cities, whicli had attained their maturity about the commencement of that 
interval * * * It was a natural consequence of the importance which 
the free citizens had reached, that they were admitted to a place in the 
Diets, or general meetings of the confederacy. They were tacitly acknow- 
ledged to be equally sovereign with the electors and princes. No proof 
exists of any law by which they were adopted into the Diet. "We find it 
said that Eudolph of Hapsburg, in 1291, renewed his oath with the princes, 
lords, and cities. Under the Emperor Henry YII» there is unequivocal 
mention of three orders composing the Diet ; electors, princes, and deputies 
from the cities. And in 1344 they appear as a third distinct college in the 
Diet of Frankfort.'—^. M. A. 

Marriage of John, son of the Emperor, to Elizabeth, sister 
of King Wenzel, and heiress of Bohemia. 

Expedition of the Emperor into Italy, 1310 ; he proceeds 
with the work of pacification, restores the exiles of both 
factions, whether Guelph or Ghibelline, overawes the Lom- 
bard cities, which acknowledge his supremacy: subdues 
Milan, Cremona, and Brescia, which had revolted. Henry 
advances to Rome, and is crowned there, in the Church of 
St. John Lateran, St. Peter's being still in the possession of 
Robert, King of Naples, head of the Guelphic faction, and 

the Orsini family. ' Henry endeavoured to achieve that in which had 
been discomfited the Othos, Henrys, and Frederics ; * but the ban of the Em- 
pire had no more terror than the excommunication of the Pope for the 
Guelphic faction, who, more Papalist than the Pope, disclaimed the 
Emperor, though under the escort of cardinal legates.' — Mil. 

War continued by Henry against the anti-Imperialist 
League, headed by Florence ,• death, during the campaign, 
of the Emperor, perhaps by poison, 1313. 'His magnanimous 

character struck even his adversaries. He was a man, writes the Guelpk 
Villani, never depressed by adversity, never in prosperity elated with pride 
or intoxicated with joy. — Mil. 



Fresh Interregnum of about a year, followed by the double 
and disputed election of 

Ziouis, Buke of Bavaria, and] ■\^^a tttt? T'lvr 



FUSION. 




from 1314-1322. 



' For part of eight years, Pope John XXII. had the 



Read Milman's Lat. Christ, bk. xii. ch. iv. voL v. p. 391. 



32 LOUIS OF BAVARIA. 

eatisf action of hearing that the fertile fields of Germany were laid waste, her 

noble cities burned, the Ehine and her affluents running with the blood of 
Christian men ; while Italy fell back into her old anarchy. He might look 
on with complacency, admitting neither title, and awaiting the time when 
he would no longer dissemble his own designs.' — Mil. 

Defeat of Leopold of Austria by the Confederate Swiss 
of the Forest Cantons Sit Morgarten,"^ 1315.t 'Morgarten the 

Marathon of Switzerland. 1,300 Swiss defeat 22,000 Austrians. Lucerne 
and then other cantons join the confederacy.' — /. G. L. ' "War had long 
been fermenting in the mountains. William Tell had commenced the in- 
surrection, which afterwards became general, in 1307 ; and shortly after- 
wards a confederacy for ten years had been entered into by the Cantons of 
SchwytZj Uri, and Unterwalden.' 

The war "between the Emperors is mainly remarkable for 
procrastination and indecision, the consequence of their want 
of confidence in their allies. 

Decisive battle of Miihldorf (in Bavaria), 1322, in which 
Frederic of Austria is conquered and taken prisoner ^ Xiouis 
of Bavaria, or Ztouis EV., sole Umj^^eroi^y 1322. 

The Pope (the infamous John XXII.) claims the right to 

award the Empire, excommunicates the Emperor 'for not pre- 
senting himself at Avignon in all humihty at the footstool of the Papal 
throne to receive the Papal sentence.' The Emperor appeals to a 

General Council ; holds a Diet at Frankfort, and issues a 

Proclamation, in which ' he deSes the power of the Pope as an enemy 
of peace, and his interference in the temporal affairs of the Empire as the 
act not of a vicar of Christ, but of a cruel and lawless tyrant.' — M. 

Expedition of the Emperor into Italy, after effecting a 
reconciliation with Frederic (whom he releases from prison), 
and the restoring of tranquillity in Germany, 1327 j is 
crowned at Milan, and at Rome, 1328, where he declares 
the Pope (John XXII.) to be deposed as guilty of treason 
and heresy, burns him in effigy, and sets up an anti-Pope, 
Nicholas V.{ 

Louis IV. soon forced to abandon Eome by the families 
of Colonna and Orsini, and, through general defection, 

to recross the Alps. ' Louis retired to Trent, and for ever abandoned 



* Read that very pretty book called Parallels of History, vol. i. eh. vii. 
p. 289 seqq. published in Lib. of Entertaining Knowledge ; and Menzel, vol. ii. 
ch. clxxvi. p. 118. 

t Ptead Coxe,vol. i. ch. vii. p. 89 seg-q. of Bohn's edit. 

i Read Milman's Lat. Christ, bk. xii. ch. vii. vol. v. p. 472 seqq. 



THE HOUSE OF LUXEMBURG. 



83 



his short-lived kingdom of Italy.'— J//?. Ig excommunicated succes- 
sively by Benedict XII. and Clement VI.,* to the latter of 
whom the Emperor submits^ and agrees to the most humi- 
liating terms, 1343. « Louis was constantly vacillating between the 
most haughty defiance of the Pope and the meanest submission ; and thus, 
without appeasing his enemies, had sunk into the most abject contempt with 

his rightful partisans.' The Pope causes Ct)arfe of Moravia^t 
eon of John, King of Bohemia, and representative of the 
House of Luxemburg, to be elected by a faction as autt- 
a^mptxav* Fresh excommunication of Louis IV., who 

shortly afterwards dies. ' Louis died unexpectedly (during a bear 
hunt) ; the last Emperor excommunicated by the Pope ; the Emperor, of all 
those that had been involved in strife with the Papacy, who had demeaned 
himself to the lowest baseness of submission.' — Mil. 

During this period war rages between England and France, 
and John, the old blind King of Bohemia, is killed at the 
battle of Crecy, 1346. The Popes still continue to reside at 
Avignon. 

The Empire is offered by the electors to Edward III. of 
England, but declined ; the electors then choose Giinther 
of Schwarzenburg, but he resigns and shortly afterwards 
dies^ Charles submits to a new election at Frankfort, and 
is crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle. 

Charles of Bavaria (son of the King of Bohemia, and 

representative of the House of Luxemburg), Emperor, as 

Charles IV., 1346. ' Charles was undisputed Emperor : his prudence, 
or his want of ambition, kept him in dutiful submission to the Pope.' — JUL 
* He was the first of the Emperors who introduced the foreign policy against 
which his predecessors on the throne had so manfully and unsuccessfully 
striven. This Emperor appeared to think that honour had vanished, leaving 
•caution in its stead.' — i/. 

The Black Plague desolates Europe^ ' starthng even the volup- 
tuous court of Avignon to seriousness,' 1350. ' Fearful natural visitations 
and signs now filled all Europe with alarm. In 1-337, appeared a great comet ; 
during the three ensuing years, an enormous multitude of locusts ; in 1348, 
the end of the world seemed at hand, an earthquake of extraordinary vio- 
lence devastating Cyprus, G-reece, Italy, and the Alpine valleys as far as 



* Eead the extract of the excommunication in Milman's Lat. Christ, 
bk. xii. ch. ix. vol. v. p. 505. 

* Also caUed Charles of Bavaria, afterwards Emperor as Charlee IV. 

D 



34 



THE HOUSE OF LUXEMBURG. 



Basle. Mountains were swallowed up. In CarintMa, thirty villages and 
the tower of Yallach were reduced to heaps of ruins. The air was thick, 
pestilential, and stifling. Wine fermented in the casks. Fiery meteors 
appeared in the heavens. A gigantic pillar of flame was seen hovering over 
the papal palace at Avignon. A second earthquake, that destroyed almost 
the whole of Basle, occurred in 1356. These horrors were succeeded by a 
dreadful pestilence called the Black Death, its victims being covered with 
black spots like burns, and often instantly dropping down dead. It first 
appeared in China, whence it traversed Asia, and spread over Europe. At 
Basle, 14,000 people fell victims to it ; at Strasburg and Erfurt, 16,000 ; and 
so on in proportion throughout G-ermany ; and yet, accoi ding to the histo- 
rians of that period, G-ermany suffered less than many other countries. 

' The day of judgment was declared to be at hand, and a letter, s^id to have 
been addressed from Jerusalem by the Creator of the world to his sinning 
creatures, was dispersed throughout Europe by a wandering tribe of peni- 
tents or Flagellants, who, like their Italian predecessors in the thirteenth 
century, cruelly lashed themselves as they went along, singing penitential 
songs. They marched in good order under various leaders, and were dis- 
tinguished by white hats with red crosses. These penitents at first created 
great enthusiasm, which gradually decreased as the pestilence died away ; 
and [A.D. 1349] Clement VL, who rightly beheld in them the commence- 
ment of a great reformation, launched a bull against and persecuted them 
as heretics. They preached, confessed, and forgave sins, pronounced the 
absolution grantecl by the Church to be of no avail ; upraided the priests 
for their hypocrisy and luxury ; and taught that all men were brethren, and 
equal in the sight of G-od.' — M, 

Mtvmiin^ pobertD of i\^t (Qm^ivt at pen'ntf ;^ the 

crown lands, from wliich the Saxon and Franconian Empe- 
rors had drawn the chief part of their revenue, being even 
more and more usurped by the great nobles, during the 
confusion of disputed successions ; and the Regalian rights, 
the second fiscal resource, such as tolls^ customs, mines, 
rights of coining, of harbouring Jews and so forth, being 
either seized or granted away; even the advowsons of 
churches being mortgaged or sold ; and the Imperial treasury 
forced to depend mainly on an inglorious traffic in honours 
and exemptions. 

The Emperor goes into Italy at the head of a small force, 
visits Home, is crowned there, 1354, and immediately leaves 
the city in observance of the humiliating agreement pre- 
viously made with the Pope. ' Notwithstanding the urgent entrea- 
ties and tempting olfers of the Ghibelline chieftains, and a vigorous and elo- 
quent remonstrance of Petrarch, whose imagination would have raised the 
Emperor into a deliverer, a champion of the Unity of Italy, as Dante Henry of 



* Read Bryce, eh. xiv. p. 246, 3rd edit., to whom I am indebted for this 
paragraph. 



THE GOLDEN BULL. 



35 



Luxemburg, Charles pursued Ms inglorious course, and quietly retired be- 
yond the Mps, virtually abandoning all the Imperial rights in italy.' — MiL 

The Emperor imprisons, and treaclierously delivers up to 
the Pope (Clement VI.) at Avignon, Eienzi, ^ the Last of the 
Tribmies/ * who, after an exile of seven years, had presented 
himself before him, for an audience, at Prague, and incau- 
tiously put himself into his power. 

dLt^^ian at the hereditary district about Aries, 1^^ 
* ^relat/ by the Emperor to the Dauphin of France, hence 
afterwards called the Dauphinat. 

Charles IV. succeeds in disuniting the Pope from France, 
and, reconciling himself to the Pope^ and withdrawing en- 
tirely from Italian politics, strives to end the internal dis- 
sensions of the Empire, to reintegrate aU that remained of 
it^ and to settle its constitution. 

PEOMULGATION OF THE FAMOUS ©oSaDEM- 

BUXiZb, 1355, ' the first among the fundamental laws of the Empire 
published by the Emperor, with the consent of the electors, princes, counts, 
nobility, and towns imperial. '—>Sm. ^f^^r (^oRfCU ^Ull %£0 tT)C 

nxtmhtt af tlje d^lectoral jjrturrs at ^cbm, viz., the three 
spiritual electors of Mayence, Cologne, and Treves, and the 
four electors of the great lay fiefs of Bohemia, Saxony, 
Brandenburg, and the Palatinate (or Phenish Pfalz) : it gave 
to these the full, absolute, and unlimited power of election, 
and declared the electoral dignity to be attached for ever to 
these hereditary and indivisible fiefs. t The electors are also 
declared almost independent sovereign princes, and exercise 
the jus de non evocando, thereby depriving their subjects 
of the right of appeal to the Emperor. J 

* Eead the very brilliant and interesting chap. Ixx. on the wonderful 
career of Rienzi, in Gibbon's Ded. and Fall ; and the brief sketch in 
Hallam's Mid. Ages, vol. ii. ch. iii. pt. li. pp. 416-418. 

t Read more in Milman, book xii. ch. xi. vol. v. p. 549 ; Menzel, vol. ii. 
ch. clxxix. p. 135 ; and Professor Smythe's Lects. on History, vol. i. lect. viii. 
p. 215. Cf. also Bryce's Essay, p. 100. 

X This bull dissipated and divided the vast resources of Germany. Hence- 
forward in the Imperial dignity there was a strange mixture of ostentatioa 
and weakness.. 

D 2 



36 



THE HOUSE OF LUXEMBURG. 



* Charles IV.'s sMlful and consistent policy aimed at settling what lie 
perhaps despaired of reforming ; and the famous instrument which, under 
the name of the G-olden Bull, became the corner-stone of the G-ermanic Con- 
stitution, confessed and legalised the independence of the electors and the 
powerlessness of the Crown. The most conspicuous defect of the existing 
system was the uncertainty of the elections, followed, as they usually were, 
by a civil war. It was this which Charles set himself to redress.' — Br, 

' By one sagacious or fortunate measure he terminated the long strife 
between the Papacy and the Empire.' — Mil. 

Charles, as King of Bohemia, draws up a new code of 
laws for that country, and incorporates it, with Moravia, 
Silesia, &c., into the Empire j encourages trade, mining, 
manufactures, agriculture ; improves the river navigation 
of Bohemia; brings German artificers into Bohemia and 
Silesia ; converts the whole of Bohemia into a garden ; 
foimds the first German University at Prague, 1348 (fol- 
lowed during his reign by that of Vienna, 1365, and shortly 
afterwards by that of Heidelberg, 1386), where he also 
builds the Hradschin, and the celebrated bridges. < His age 

that of masons and architects.' — M. 

Srcat potor at tl)is petioft of tfit l^angeatfc 
Hcague. 

The Emperor visits the Pope, Urban VI., at Avignon ; 
and afterwards at Eome, 1368, on the Pope's return thither. 

* In Rome the Emperor led the Pope's horse from the castle of St. Angeloto 
St. Peter's, and served him as a deacon during the high service. — Mil. 

Wars between the great cities and the nobles in many 
parts of the Empire, particularly in Suabia ] the cities ac- 
quire great power ; wars of the Hansa, or Hanseatic League, 
against Norway and Denmark, which it compels to submit 
to humiliating terms. 

Invention of gimpowder by Schwarz, 1354, at 1 ^ ^-j^.^ 

Freiburg, and of Y 
Cannon-founding, by John of Aarau, 1372, J 

Wars, dui'ing this reign, of the Dukes of Austria, theHaps- 
burg family, with the Swiss Confederation ; the Swiss gain 
the advantage generally \ the Hapsburg family acquire, how- 
ever, Carinthia and the Tyrol, and the city of Trieste. 



GREAT SCHISM OF THE PAPACY, CIRC. 1400. 37 

The Emperor meditates the restoration of tranquillity and 
order by means of an alliance with the Hansa^ but his pro- 
posals are rejected by the cities; the Emperor procures the 
nomination of his son^ Wenceslas^ titular King of the 
Romans^ as his successor^ by bribing the electors. 

Wenceslas, or Wenzel, son of Charles IV.^ Emperor, 

1378^ aild King of Bohemia, ' a tyrant, given up to cruelty, idleness, 

and drunkenness.'— i/. Massacre of many of the Bohemian no- 
bility by the Emperor at Prague ; John von Nepomuck 

thrown into the river. ' He was, by the Emperor's order, cast head- 
long during the night from the great bridge orer the Moldau (where his 
statue now stands) into the stream. He was afterwards canonised by the 
Church as a martyr, and made the patron saint of all bridges.' Great 

massacre of the Jews (3,000) in Prague. 

The Emperor is seized and imprisoned by his brother Sigis- 
mund, 1393^ but again set free ; commits fresh cruelties and 

debaucheries, ' Wenceslas would gladly (to use his own expression) 
have relinquished the Empire , with its remaining prerogatives, for a few 
hogsheads of Rhenish or Florence wine.' — G. M. W. 

W^t great ^cl)ism in X^t ^apacg at this time ; 

lasts from 1378-1429; commenced under Urban YI., at 
Eome, and Clement VII.^ at Avignon. Urban VI. is ac- 
knowledged by the Emperor and the German archbishops 
at a diet held at Frankfort. 

War between Leopold, Duke of Austria^ the representa- 
tive of the Hapsburg family^ and the Confederation of 
Switzerland, 1385. Battle of Sempach* ' Amoid of Untenvaiden 

opens a passage through the Austrian pikes.'—/. G. L. 1386 (defeat and 

death of Leopold of Austria) ; and of Ndfels, 1388, won 
by the peasants of Glarus. 

Great struggle for freedom on the part of the confederated 
cities in Suabia and on the Ehine ) wars between them and 
the confederations of the nobility. 

Invasion of Hungary hy the Sultan Bajazet and an enor- 
mous Turkish army. ' The enthusiasm caused by the Crusades had 
long died away, and it was with difficulty that Sigismund, the Emperor's 



* Read vol. i. ch. vii. p. 306 seqq. of Historical Parallels {Library of Enter- 
taining Knowledge), Read also Coxe, vol. i. ch. ix. p. 134 seqq. 



38 INVASION OF HUNGARY BY BAJAZET, CIRC. 1400. 



brother, who had become King of Hungary by marriage, raised 60.000 men, 
among whom were 6,000 Biirgundians and French, for the siege of Nicopolis, 

A.D. i396:~M. Battle of SJicopoIis, and defeat of the army 
of Sigismund, after a long and terrible engagement. Massacre 
of the Christian captives after the battle, 1396. 'Bajazet i. 

deserved his sm*name of Ilderim, or Lightning, by the rapid impetuosity 
with which he flew from the Eux^hrates to the Danube He triumphed by 
turns over the Mahometans of Asia Minor, and the Christians of Bulgaria, 
Servia, Hungary, and G-reece ; and the total defeat of an army of French in 
the battle of Nicopolis spread the terror of his name to the most remote 
parts of Europe." — G. M. W. 'Sigismund escaped to Constantinople with 
five followers. — /. G. L. 

The Emperor Wenzel is, from his incapacity, brutality, 

and drunkenness, deposed in 1400, but continues to reign in 

Prague till 1419. Riipert, Count Palatine, or Pfalzgraf of 

the Pthine, elected Smperor, 1400. ' The chief object of the mag- 
nates was to keep the monarch in his present state of helplessness. Till the 
expenses which the crown entailed were found ruinous to its wearer, their ^ 
practice was to confer it on some petty prince, such as were Rudolph, and 
Adolph of Nassau, and Grlinther of Schwarzburg, seeking, when they could, 
to Iceep it from settling in one family. They bound the newly-elected to 
respect all their present immunities, including those which they had just 
extorted as the price of their votes ; they checked all his attempts to recover 
lost lands or rights : they ventured at last to depose their anointed head, 
Wenzel of Bohemia.' — Br. 

Unsuccessful expedition of the Emperor Rupert into 
Italy against Milan and the powerful family of the Visconti, 

1402. ' Imperial authority in Italy ended with the life of Henry VII. 
Eupert did indeed cross the Alps, but it was as the hireling of Florence : 
he was indeed crowned* at Eome, as also were Lewis lY. and Sigismund, but 
it was at the behest of a faction, which found them useful tools for a time, 
and then flung them away in scorn.' — B7\ 

ffiontmu£& httlinz anti Hnancial bismss of t!)t 

'iB tnpttC. < Things were so bad under Rudolph that the electors refused 
to make his own son, Albert, King of the Romans, declaring that, while 
liudolph lived, the public revenue, which with dilnculty supported one 
monarch, could much less maintain two at the same time.' — Br. 

Death of the Emperor Eupert, 1411, ' deserted by aU Ms par- 
tisans, and treated with universal disrespect.' — Af. 

THE GREAT SCHISM IN THE PAPACY at its 
height about this period. THE COUNCIL OF PISA, 

* Mr. Bryce, in the course of his obliging assistance in revising this work 
for the second edition, writes me word that he has had reason to alter his 
opinion, as here quoted, and that he does not find sufficient authority for 
the coronation of Eupert at Rome. 



JOHN HUSS. 89 

1409, deposes the two rival Popes^ Benedict XIII. and 
Gregory XII and elects Alexander V. 

Tbree Rival Popes at once. Alexander V. dies next 

Vear^ and J olm XXIII.* is elected, 1410. ' The world was scan- 
dalised by beh-olding three Popes at once, as if in mockery of the Holy 
Trinity.'— Jif. 

Siffismund,t OF THE HOUSE OF LUXE]\IBUEG, 
King of Hungary, and brother of the deposed Emperor 
Wenzel, elected by a majority of the electors, Emperor, 
1411. Jodoc, 'called also Jebst or Jossus,'— /. G. L. of Moravia had 
been elected anti-Emperor; but dies shortly afterwards. 

' SigismundJ %Yas now sole and uncontested Emperor.' 

Great religious movement in Germany about this time, 
for the liberty and reformation of the Church, commenced 
by JOHU HUSS, about 1409, principally occasioned by the 

spread of JVi/cIiff'e^s writings in Bohemia. The marriage of 

King Wenzel's sister, Anne of Bohemia, to Richard II. of England, had 
brought the two realms into close connection, exactly at the time when the 
doctrines of WyciiJie were making their most rapid progress. Bohemian 
students sat at the feet of the bold professor of theology at Oxford ; Engli.sh 
sttidents were found at Prague. The writings of Wycliife were brought in 
great numbers, some in Latin, some translated, into Bohemian, and dis- 
seminated by admiring partisans.' — Mil. 

Spread of the doctrines of Huss, or, ' john of Hussinetz, a vil- 
lage in Bohemia ;—2fiL he denounces the wealth and the corrup- 
tions of the Church — in especial, the sale of indulgences. 
The University of Prague is rent with feuds and dissensions. 
The German professors and students quit Prague in a body ; 
Huss becomes Kector of the University ; one of his most 
distinguished converts and pupils, Hieronymus Faulfisch, 
generally called Jerome of Prague. 



* A Pope charged, at least, with every imaginable crime. — Mil, Read 
Milman's Hist, of Lat. Christ bk. xiii. ch. v. vol. \-i. p. 82 segq. 

t In the first edition of this Avork, I had assigned, on &ennan authority, 
the adoption of the double-headed eagle {der Doppel-Adler) as the armorial 
bearing of the Empire, to Conrad III., of the House of Hohenstaufen. jir. 
Br^'ce informs me that it was first assumed as sttch by the Emperor 
Sigismund. 

X A very unfavourable view of his character is taken by Menzel, vol . ii. 
p. 155, ch. clxxxiiL 



40 



THE COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE, 1415. 



The foreign students return to their own countries^ where 
the Saxons found^ 1408^ the University of Leipsic^ 
the Bavarians j, Ingoldstadt^ 

the Poles Cracovr. 

THE COUNCIL OF COXSTAXCE, « the second great 

General Council for the reformation of the Church, and one of the most 
numerous assemblies of Chrisienclom," {0. C. T.) summoned, On their 

ovm authority, by the College of Cardinals, who thereby do^ 
by this independent act, declare themselves superior to. and 

condemn all, the three rival Popes.* • The Council had been sum- 
moned for three principal obiecis : 1. The union of the Church under ona 
acknowledged Pope : 2. The reformation of the clergy, in its head and it> 
members ; 3. The extirpation of erroneous and heretical doctrines." — Mil 

The Pope (John XXTLI.) cites Huss to appear at Piome. 

' Huss J the man of irreproachable morals, cited to appear before the tribtmal 
of a Pope, charged, at least, with every imaginable crime."— J/. 

The Emperor aspires to restore peace to the Church : 
sends a safe-conduct to John Huss to appear before the 
Coimcil of Constance, which is shamefully violated. -At 

Nuremberg he was met by three Bohemian nobles, who bore from Spires the 
Imperial safe-conduct, couched in the strictest and fullest terms, guarantee- 
ing his saie entrance and his safe return from Consta.nce." — Mil. %^\\%^ 

appears before the Council; is examined: refuses to recant; 
his sentence and mtrl (i^]:rnitton. 1415. 'Huss was ie--i awRT 

^dth two of the headsman's servants before him. two behind. Eight hun- 
dred horse followed, and the whole multitude from the city. Over a narrovr 
bridge they went in single file, lest it should break with their weight. They 
stopped before the Bishop's palace, that Huss might gaze on the pile on 
which his books lay bmnirig. He only smiled at this ineiiectual act of ren- 
geance. As he went along he addressed the people in German, protesting 
against the injustice of his sentence, His adversaries had been able to con- 
vince him of no error." The place of execution was a meadow without the 
walls. He knelt, recited several psalms, with the perpetual burden. Lord 
Jesus, have mercy upon me. Into thy hands I commend my spirit." We 
know not," said the pe^ople, what this man may have done ; we only know 
that his prayers to God are excellent." They asked if he would have a con- 
fessor. A priesx on a stately horse, and richly attired, protested that no 
confessor should be granted to a heretic. But PLcichenthal, as himself re- 
lates, callel forth Ulric Schorand, a man of piety and wisdom. But TZTrio 
required that Huss shotdd first retract the errors for which he v.-as con- 
demned. Huss declined to confess on such terms. I have no need. I am 
guilty of no mortal sin." He endeavoinred to address the people again in 
G-erman. The Elector Palatine reftised permission. Then Huss prayed 
aloud, " Lord Jesus, for thy sake I endtire with patience this cruel death. I 



* Read ' Council of Constance,' in ililman's Lat. Christ, vol. vi. bk. xiiL 
ch. vi. p. 155 segq. 



THE HUSSITE WAR, 1419-1435. 



41 



beseech thee to pardon mine enemies." As he spoke, the paper mitre fell 
from his head. The rude soldiers replaced it : "He shall be burned with all 
his devils." He spoke gently to his guards. " I trust that I shall reign with 
Christ, since I die for his Gospel." 

' He was then tied fast by an old rusty chain to the stake affixed on a 
platform. The Elector Palatine and the Marshal Oppenheim advanced, and 
again urged him to recant. Huss replied that he willingly signed his testi- 
mony with his blood. All he had taught and written was to save men's 
souJs from Satan, and from the dominion of sin. The fire blazed up ; it is 
said that an old woman was busy in heaping the wood. " Oh, holy simpli- 
city ! " said Huss. With the last feeble sounds of his voice he was heard to 
chant verses of the Psalms, and to pray to the Eedeemer. All the remains- 
of the body were torn in pieces, even his clothes thrown into the fire ; the 
ashes were gathered and thrown into the lake, lest his disciples should make 
reliques of them. But their faithful piety scraped together the earth .around 
the pile, and carried it to Bohemia. 

' So perished John Huss, as an obstinate incorrigible heretic, but his 
heresy has never been clearly defined. It was not a denial of any of the great 
doctrinal truths of universal Christianity, nor any of those tenets of belief 
rejected afterwards by the German and English reformers. On transub- 
stantiation (notwithstanding the subtleties of his adversaries), the com- 
munion in one kind, worship of the Saints and of the Yirgin Mary, Huss was 
scrupulously, unimpeachably orthodox. He was the martyr to the power 
of the hierarchy, not the power of the Pope, which the Council itself had 
renounced in its extreme theory ; his testimony was against that supreme 
ecclesiastical dominion which had so long ruled the mind of man.' — Mil. 
Lat. Christ. 

The Pope, Jolin XXIII., previously to Huss's martyrdom, 
deposed by the Coimcil of Constance, which cites him to 

appear «to answer for the maintenance of the schism, for heresy, simony, 
maladministration and notorious dilapidations of the estates and possessions 
of the Papacy ; for the scandals and notorious criminalities of his life and 

conversation.'— i/i7. xbe Council of Constance thereby pro- 
claims itself the Supreme Authority of Christendom, 
and asserts the Superiority of General Councils to the 
Pope. 

Trial and bm-ning of Jerome of Prague, the next year, 
1416. Martin V. chosen Pope. 

COMMENCEMENT OF DISTURBANCES IN 
BOHEMIA, AND OUTBREAK OF THE HUSSITE 
WARS, about 1419, lasting nearly sixteen years.* The 
Emperor Sigismund becomes King of Bohemia, on the death 
of King Wenzelj the Bohemians refuse to acknowledge 
him, and take up arms ) John Ziska and Procopius, 



* The movement of the Hussites resembled, in many resi>ects, that of the 
Puritans.—/. G. L. 



42 



THE HUSSITE WARS. 



commanders of the Hussites ; * five crusades against them, 
preached by the Pope, and led by the Emperor with, the 
full force of the Empire ; victories of the Hussites at 
Wyschebrad, Saaz, Deutschbrod, Aussitz, and Taas. ' of all 

wars, none was so horribly, remorselessly, ostentatiously cruel as this— a war 
of races, of languages, and of religion. It was a yrrife of revenge, of reprisal, 
of extermination, considered to be the holiest of duties. On one side no 
faith was to be kept, no mercy shown to heretics : to cut off the spreading ' 
plague by any means was paramount to all principles of law or gospel. On 
the other, vengeance was to be wreaked on the enemies of G-od's people, and 
therefore the enemies of God : to root out idolatry was the mission of the 
Bohemians ; mortal sin was to be cut off with the righteous sword ; and the 
whole priesthood, all monks, friars, nuns, were so utterly depraved, accord- 
ing to their sweeping condemnation, that it was only to fulfil the Divine 
commandment to extirpate the irreclaimable order. These terrible theories 
were relentlessly carried into more terrible practice. Kuttenberg, the second 
city in the realm, the rival of Prague — Catholic and German as Prague was 
Hussite and Bohemian — burned, beheaded, hanged all who would not retract 
their opinions. They bought the prisoners taken in war for a few groschen 
a head (five times as much for a preacher as for a common man), and exe- 
cuted them without trial, without mercy. They are charged with having 
put to death sixteen hundred men. The Hussites, whenever they could, per- 
petrated horrible reprisals ; for so many of their brethren as were burned 
they hanged as many monks and friars. The names assigned to their for- 
tresses, and assumed by the more fanatic Hussites, Taborites, Horebites, show 
from which part of the Bible they drew their prevailing principles. Some 
of the preachers proclaimed the approaching end of the world. Christ was 
already coming, already come. The enemies of the truth v/ere to be exter- 
minated ; the good alone preserved, and put in the five faithful cities. 
Bohemia boasted, beyond all kingdoms of Europe, of her magnificent reli- 
gious buildings, not in her cities alone, but in her villages. Eanaticism, 
maddened by persecution and by its ow^n blind fury, warred on all that was 
splendid. The sky-aspiring churches, of vast length and width, on their 
pillars and arching vaults of stone ; the stately altars, where the reliques of 
the saints were enshrined in gold and silver ; the embroidered vestments, 
inlaid with precious stones ; the gorgeous vessels ; the rich painted windows 
—all was demolished — all w^as ruin, havoc, desolation.' — Mil. Lat. Christ. 

Negotiations carried on between the Emperor and the 
Hussite leaders at the Council of Basle, 1431, after the re- 
peated defeats of the Imperial armies, in spite of immense 
numerical superiority ; and the imposition, for the purpose 
of paving them, of THE COMMON" PENNY, fixed bv the 
Diet^of Nuremberg, as THE FIEST GENERAL TAX, 
THROUGHOUT THE EMPIRE, in 1428. Procopius, 
also called Procop Holy, and the Hussite leaders accept 
peace on the conditions of the Articles of Prague ) but the 

* Read the sketch of Zisca and his exploits in Hallam's Middle Ages, 
eh- V. vol. ii. p. 102 ; an extract from which is given in the Appendix. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBUEG. 



43 



war recommences ; dissensions break out among tlie Huss- 
ites j their parties the Calixtines or UtraquistSj the Tabor- 
lies, and the Horehites ; they are finally defeated, and their 
leaders, after a desperate resistance, hunted down and ex- 
terminated, 1431-1434. Compact of lylau, between the 
Emperor and the Hussites, establishing a religious peace,* 
1435. 

The Emperor acknowledged King of Bohemia, after his 

return from Home, where he is crowned by the Pope, 

Eugenius IV., 1433. ' After openly procrastinating the ceremony, the 
Po]")e at length gave full vent to his displeasure by causing the crown to be 
placed awry on Sigismund's head by another ecclesiastic, and then pushing 
it straight with his foot as the Emperor knelt before him.' — M. Heath of 

the Emperor, 1437. 

THE INVENTION OF PRINTING about this 
time, 1436.t 

'^f'tlnXim of l^t "^mit ai l^ap^^iurg, 

1438-1740. 

iLlbert of Austria (married Elizabeth, daughter of 

Sigismund, ' ^vho brought as her dower the whole of the Luxemburg 
inheritance, Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia, the Lausitz, and Hungary'), "^xn." 

peror, as Albert II., King of Hungary and King of ike 

Romans. ' The wealth and great possessions of the House of Hapsburg 
had ever been chiefly acquired by marriage ; hence the proverb, " Tufelix 
Austria nube ! "' — M. 'During the Hussite war, Albert had acted with 
eqnal -^"igour and prudence ; he had assisted Sigismund with his counsels, 
and led his own forces against the insurgents ; and while the rest of the 
German forces were panic-struck at the name of the Hussites, Albert, at the 
head of his brave Austrians, was alone successful.'— C. 

Albert expels the Poles from Bohemia, finally extin- 
guishes the ashes of the Hussite war, and restores peace to 

Bohemia. 'He fiercely persecuted, however, both heretics and Jews, 
burning no less than 110 of the first, and 1,300 of the second, in Austria, for 
having aided the Hussites.'— i/. 



* On the Peace of Iglau, read Coxe's House of Austria, vol. i. pt. i. ch. ii. 
p. 181. Very briefly, the Hussites obtained a more or less general amnesty, 
the use of the cup in the communion, and the confirmation of many of their 
privileges. 

t Read Menzel, vol. ii. ch. cxcii. p. 223. 



44 



DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE. 



Ee forms of tlie Emperor in Germany ; he endeavours to 
bring the courts of justice under due restriction, to put an 
end to their abuses, and to modify the dreadful power of the 

secret tribunals of Westphalia. « These had long been the disgrace 

of aerman jurisprudence.' *— c. His Scheme of a division of the 
Empire into Circles (afterwards modified and improved by 
Maximilian I.), for the purpose of restoring peace to the 
Empire, and suppressing the right of private war. 

Prngrr^^ 0f t^e CurSi^i^ nvm^ under Amurath, or 
Murad II., in Crnatia antf ^xtUQKVVy 1437. Defeat of the 
Hungarians at Semendria j Hungary ravaged frightfully by 
the Turks ; the Emperor marches against them, 1438, but 
efiects nothing ; both armies, decimated by disease, retreat. 
Death of the Emperor from the same cause, 1439. 

Frederic III., Emperor, l^&O. [Frederic was Duke 
of Styria, cousin to the late Emperor Albert II., and pre- 
sumptive head of the Hapsburg House.] ' After the death of 

Sigismund, the Imperial crown returned for ever to the House of Austria, 
first in the person of Albert II. and then of Frederic III. ; the latter possessed 
the title of Emperor above half a century, without either authority or repu- 
tation. Grermany was without influence in Europe ; but judicious foreigners 
began to discover the latent powers of that great body, when once roused 
into action by the necessity of its own defence.' — G. M. W. ' This Emperor, 
Frederic III., averse to great actions of every description, and a stranger to 
the passions of the human heart, nevertheless reigned for fifty-three years 
over G-ermany, during a period fraught with fate.' — M. The Emperor 

guardian to his nephew Ladislaus, posthumous son of the 
late Emperor, Albert II. 

IBttlint of tfte ©mpirt.t Frederic m.'s reign, the 

Empire sank to its lowest point. Never after the Council of Basle (1431- 
1448), the last occasion on which the whole of Latin Christendom met to 
deliberate as a single commonwealth, and the last on which that common- 
wealth's lawful temporal head appeared in the exercise of his international 
functions, was the head of the Holy Roman Empire, in the eyes of Europe, 
anything more than a German monarch.' — Br. 

SITTING OF THE COUNCIL OF BASLE,Xfrom 

* On the secret tribunals of Westphalia, generally known by the name of 
the ' Vehmgericht,' read Sir W. Scott's novel, Anne of Geierstem, ch. xx. 

t Read Bryce's Essay, p. 118 seqq., from which the subjoined extract is 
taken ; and see extract in Appendix. 

% Read, on the decrees of the Council of Basle, Milman's Lat. Christy 
bk. xiii. ch. xii. vol. vi. p. 264 seqq. 



TURKISH WARS, CIRC. 1450. 



45 



1431-1448, tlie third great Council for the reformation of 

tlie Cliurcll. It abolishes annates, reservations, and other of the most 
glaring abuses of papal authority, and endeavours to put some check (in the 
open immorality of the priests. 

The decrees of the Council of Basle for the liheration of the 

Church adopted in Germany, 1439, by an Imperial Diet held 

at Mayence. « An able sovereign at this period, by taking advantage of 
the favourable disposition of the Council, might have produced a bloodless 
reformation in the Church ; but the Imperial crown was on a slumberer's 
brow, Roman wiles were again triumphant, and the horrors of the Hussite 
war seemed scarcely to have left a trace.' — M. The decrees of the 

Council of Basle nullified hy the Concordat of Vienna, 1448. 

* A separate concordat with the Emperor, brought about by the diplomacy 
and bribes of ^neas Sylvius, to which the princes gave their assent, not 
publicly in the Diet, but singly as they were gradually won over, and by 
which every resolution of the Council of Basle relating to the restriction of 
Papal abuses was simply retracted. Thus by an impious diplomacy were the 
people deceived, and thus was the warning voice of history, the great lesson 
taught by the Hussite war, despised.' — M. 

War between the Emperor and some of the Swiss Can- 
tons ; the Emperor employs the services of French merce- 
naries, but effects nothing ; * the Emperor is compelled to 
give up the young Prince Ladislaus, his nephew, who is 
elected King of Hungary and Bohemia. Invasion of Hun- 
grary by tlie Turks, who commit frightful ravages there 
and in the Duchy of Austria, 

Expedition of the Emperor to Eome, where he is crowned 

by Pope Nicholas Y., 1451. ' Imperial authority in Italy ended with 
the life of Henry VII. Eupert did indeed cross the Alps, but it was as the 
hireling of Florence ; Frederic III. received the Lombard crown, but it no 
longer conveyed the smallest power.' — Br. 

Valiant RESISTANCE MAINTAINED AGAINST 
THE TURKS, IN HUNGARY, BY JOHN HUN- 
NIAEES, natural son of the late Emperor Sigismund^ who 
governs the country as vicar-general j victory of Nissa; 
battles of Varna and Kissova ; he raises the siege of, and 
saves^ Belgrade^ vdnning a glorious victory j t after his death 



* Bead Bryce's Essay, p. 1 22. 

t On the Turkish war. read Menzel, ch. clxxxviii. vol. ii. p. 190 segq., or 
Coxe, vol. ii. ch. xiii. p. 175, Bohn's edit. ' This battle of Belgrade is worthy 
to rank with that of Tours, of Lepanto, and of Vienna in the contests be- 
tween Mahometan: sm and Christianity.' — G. L. 



46 



INEOADS OF THE TUEKS. 



liis younger son^ MATTHIAS CORVINUS, continues 
the war witli great courage. After tlie deatli of Ladislaus, 
George von Podiebrad is created King of Bohemia by the 
Bohemians ; he forms an alliance with Matthias Corvinus^ 

who marries his daughter. ' Tlie loss of both these kingdoms was 

peaceably submitted to by the Emperor, to Tvhom ]Matthias had presented 
60,000 ducats, while George aided him against his brother, Albert the Squan- 
derer. The Austrian nobility treated the Emperor with insolence, and 
Albert intrigued against him.' — M. 

Revolt of the citizens of Vienna against the Emperor; 
he is besieged by the citizens in his own castle there ; the 
siege is raised by George von Podiebrad; who comes to the 
Emperor's aid^ 1462. 

War between the Emperor and George von Podiebrad, 
owing to the intrigues of the Pope^ Pius II., and afterwards 
with Matthias Corvinus, of Hungary.* Frightful state of 
disorder, brigandage, and so forth, in Austria. The Emperor 
is driven from Austria into exile, by Matthias Corvinusf 
submits to a disgraceful peace. 

Devastating inroads of tbe Turks continued, in tbe 
Austrian territories, under Mahomet ZZ., 1469-1480. 
Crusade preached against them by the Pope, Nicholas V., 
^neas Sylvius (afterwards Pius II.), and Capistrano, gene- 
ral of the Franciscans ; it fails to rouse the courage, though it 

stirred up the fanaticism and bigotry, of the people. ' capi- 
strano travelled through the greater part of G-ermanv, endeavourlng to rouse 
the military ardour of the people against the Turks ; but the princes, instead 
of joining the cru?ade at his summons, contented themselves with praying 
and ringing the Turkish bells, as they vere called. In Silesia, vhen. preached 
against the Jews, every individual belonging to that helpless race was btu'nt 
alive.' — M. 

Consolidation of the power of the Kingdom of Hungary, 
under Matthias Corvinus ; he forms a standing army to re- 
sist the Turks ] calls a yearly parliament at Pesth \ agree- 
ment with the Emperor Frederic III., who gives up the 
throne, but retains the title of King of Hungary, 1463. 

HORRIBLE WAR IN PRUSSIA, about this time, 



* Read Coxe, vol. i. eh. xviii. p. 278 seqq. 



PEACE OF THORN, 14G6. 



47 



BETWEEN THE TEUTONIC ORDER and the Pro- 
vincial Nobles and cities of Prussia and Pomerania^ who 
invite the aid of Poland, from about 144t0-1466. The Con- 
federation renounces its allegiance to the Order, and puts 
itself under the protection of Poland and its King, Casimir ; 
the Order raises Bohemian mercenaries ; long- and bloody 
war, concluded by the Peace of Thorn, 1466, by which 
the Grand Master, completely deserted by his German 
allies, cedes Western Prussia to Polandy and agrees to hold 
Eastern Prussia as a fief of the Polish Crown. The Empe- 
ror favours tirst the Order, afterwards the Confederates, 

but does nothing'. ' a war of thirteen years had transformed Prussia 
into a desert : 1,019 churches had bjeen destroyed — those that remained stand- 
ing, plundered and desecrated ; out of 21,000 villagies, but 3,013 remained, 
and, as if to render the misery complete, a dreadful pestilence broke out in 
1463, which carried off 21,000 persons in Dantzig alone.' — M. 

Great poiver of Charles the Bold,^ Buke of Burgundy, so7i 

of Philip the Good, at this ti?ne. ' The House of Burgundy was 
descended from Philip the Hardy, fourth son of John, King of Prance.'— C. 
' Charles was the richest and most powerful prince of Europe — the rival of 
Louis XI. of Prance.'— 0. C. T. 

Negotiations of the Emperor Frederic III. with Charles 
the Bold, of Burgundy, for the marriage of Maximilian, son 
of the Emperor, with Mary, only daughter and heiress of 
Charles the Bold ; and treaty with Charles, 1473. 

War between Charles the Bold and the Swiss in league 
with Louis XL and France, 1474 ; Charles is defeated at 
Granson and Morat, and killed at Nancy, 1477 ; the Duchy 
of Burgimdy seized by Louis XL shortly afterwards. 'The 

revolution which restored Burgundy to the French monarchy merits more 
than common attention. Charles the Bold, of the House of Prance, Duke 
of Burgundy, and Sovereign of the Netherlands, was the natural and im- 
placable enemy of Louis XI. His subjects of Burgundy were brave and 
loyal ; those of Flanders, rich and industrious : his revenue was consider- 
able, his c-^urt magnificent, his troops numerous and well disciplined, and 
his dominions enlarged by the acquisition of Guelders, Alsace, and Lorraine, 
But his vain projects of ambition were far superior either to his power or his 
abilities. At one and the same time he aspired to obtain the regal title, to 
be elected King of the Romans, to divide France with the English, to invade 



* Bead Coxe, vol. ii. ch. xviii. p. 2-51 seqq., or Menzel, vol. ii. ch. clxxxix. 
p. 197 seqq. ' Charles the Bold may be compared to Pyrrhus of Epirus, and 
Charles XII. of Sweden. -/. G, L. 



48 



MARRIAGE OF MAXIMILIAN, 1477. 



Italy, and to lead a crusade against the Turks. Tlie Swiss Cantons — a name 
till then unknown in Europe — humbled his pride. Many writers, more at- 
tentive to the moral precept than to historic truth, have represented the Swiss 
as a harmless people, attacked without justice or provocation. Those rude 
mountaineers were, on the contrary, the aggressors ; and it appears by 
authentic documents, that French intrigues, and even French money, had 
found a way into the Senate of Berne. Louis XL, who in his youth had 
experienced the valour of the Swiss, inflamed the quarrel till it became 
irreconcilable, and then sat down the quiet spectator of the event. The 
gendarmerie of Burgundy was discomfited, in three great battles, by the 
firm battalions of Swiss infantry, composed of pikemen and musketeers. At 
G-ranson, Charles lost his honour and treasures ; at Morat, the flower of his 
troops ; and at Nancy, his life. He left only an orphan daughter, whose 
rich patrimony Louis perhaps may have secured by a treaty of marriage. 
Actuated by passion rather than sound policy, he chose to ravish it by con- 
quest. Burgundy and Artois submitted without much difficulty ; but the 
Flemings, exasperated by the memory of ancient injuries, disdained the 
French yoke, and married their young Princess Mary to Maximilian, son of 
the Emperor Frederic III. The Low Countries became the inheritance of the 
House of Austria, and the subject as well as theatre of a long series of wars, 
the most celebrated that have ever disturbed Europe.' — G. M. PF.* 

THE MARRZAGX: OF MAXIMIZiIAZa- £LlS'S^ 

I^ARir OP BUItGU^Bir, 1477. ' Mary of Burgundy, anxious 
alike to escape the merciless grasp of this royal monster, and the rule of the 
^vild democracy of G-hent, at first endeavoured to conciliate the Dutch by the 
promulgation of the Great Charter, in which she vowed neither to marry, 
nor levy taxes, nor to make war, without their consent. In hope of gaining 
a greater accession of power by a foreign marriage, she skilfully worked 
upon the dread with which the French were viewed by her subjects, to influ- 
ence them in favour of Maximilian, the handsomest j^outh of his day, whom 
she is said to have seen at an earlier period at Treves, or, as some say, of 
whose picture she had become enamoured. Maximilian inherited the phy- 
sical strength of his grandmother, Cimburga of Poland, and the mental 
qualities of his Portuguese mother ; surpassed all other imights in chivalric 
feats ; was modest, gentle, and amiable. Mary confessed to the assembled 
States of the Netherlands that she had already exchanged letters and rings 
with him, and the marriage was resolved upon. Maximilian hastened to 
Ghent, and, clothed in silver armour, with his long blond locks crowned with 
a bridegroom's wreath resplendent with precious stones, rode into the city, 
where he was-met by Mary. The youthful pair, on beholding one another, 
knelt in the public street, and sank into each other's arms. " Welcome art 
thou to me, thou noble German," said the young duchess, " whom I have so 
long desired and now behold with delight." ' — M. 

Great importance of this marriage in the history of Ger- 

7nany and Europe generally. < The marriage of Mary, Duchess of 
Burgimdy, daughter and sole heiress of Charles the Bold, with Maximilian, 
Archduke of Austria, conveying all the dominions of Burgundy to Maxi- 
milian and his heirs, established a great independent sovereign on the 
frontiers of France, giving to him, on the north, not only the present king- 
doms of Holland and Belgium, but large portions of what is now French 



* ' Scott's novel of Quentin Durward, though not accurate in detail, gives 
a truthful and picturesque account of the spirit of the times.' — /. L. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CIRC. 1480. 49 



territory— the old provinces of Artois and Frenca Flanders, French Hai- 
nault, and French Luxembourg ; while on the east it gave him Franche 
Comte, thus yielding him a footing within the Jura, on the very banks of 
the Saone, Thence ensued, in after ages, when the Spanish branch of the 
House of Austria had inherited this part of its dominions, the long contests 
which deluged the Netherlands with blood, the campaigns of King William 
and Luxembourg, the nine years of efforts, no less skilful than valiant, in 
which Marlborough broke his way through the fortresses of the iron frontier. 
Again, when Spain became in a manner French by the accession of the 
House of Bourbon, the Netherlands reverted once more to Austria itself ; 
and from thence the powers of Europe advanced almost in our own days to 
assail France as a republic ; and on this ground, on the plains of Fleurus, 
was won the first of those great victories which for nearly twenty years 
carried the French standard triumphantly over Europe. Thus the marriage 
recorded by Comines has been working busily down to our very own times : 
it is only since the settlement of 1814, and that more recent one of 1830, that 
the Netherlands have ceased to be affected by the union of Charles the Bold's 
daughter with Maximilian of Austria.' — Am, Lect. 

Ci&e Jiiba^ian of tijc Curfew in ^miq^rvy ^itiStrta, 

' In the short 

space of twenty-seven years, during the reign of Frederic, the country was 
twelve times visited by this drea-dful scourge, and twelve times marked by 
amilar scenes of desolation, carnage, and horror.' — C. 

Untimely deatli of Mary of Burgundy, wife of Maxi- 
milian, 1482, leaving two infants, Philip and Margaret. The 
Emperor Frederic procures the election of Maximilian as 
King of the Romans, securing thereby to him the reversion 
of the Imperial crown, 1486. 

War between France and Maximilian ; insurrections and 
troubles in Flanders fomented by Charles VIII., King of 
France ; insurrection of Ghent, Ypres, and Bruges ; seiz- 
ure and confinement of Maximilian by the mob in Bruges ; 
courageous and dignified behaviour of the King during the 
perilous captivity, 1488 ; he is released on the advance of 
the Emperor Frederic with a German army. ' The terms of his 

release being arranged, Maximilian was liberated. He displayed no sign of 
anger or resentment for the mortifications he had endured ; but, ^\T.th a 
cheerful countenance and an affable deportment, repau^ed to the church, and, 
after offering up his thanksgivings, exclaimed to the bystanders, " "We are 

now at peace." '— c. Peace with France, 1489. 

War between the Emperor and Ladislaus (King of Bo- 
hemia), who is elected by the Hungarians King of Hungary 
on the death of Matthias, 1490 ; courage and spirit displayed 
l)y Maximilian, who regains the Austrian territories con- 

E 



50 THE EMPEROR MAXIMILIAN I., CIRC. 1490. 



quered by Matthias, and the preservation of tlie title of 
King of Hungary to the Emperor and himself. Peace with 
Ladislaus. Maximilian's intended marriage with Anne of 
Brittany is prevented by the intrigues of France and Charles 
VIII. Fresh war with France. Maximilian enters into an 
alliance with Henry VII. of England^ and Ferdinand, King 
of Arragon, against France ; concludes an honourable and 
advantageous peace at Senlis ; 1492. 

Endeavours of the Emperor to establish a regular system 
of levying the Contingents of the Empire ; he forms THE 
SUABIAN LEAGUE, for the purpose of extirpating the 
strongholds of the banditti j consolidating^ as far as is pos- 
sible, the strength of the Empire ; forming a counterpoise to 
the Hanseatic League and the League of the commercial 
cities on the Rhine; as well as humbling the powerful 
House of Bavaria, 1485. 

Death of the Emperor, at the age of seventy-eight, in 
retirement at Lintz, after resigning the administration of 
affairs throughout the Empire to Maximilian, 1493.* 

Maximilian I,, Emperor, 1493. ' To an aged, feeble, aaid 
parsimonious sovereign, succeeded an active and liberal prince, in the prime 
of manhood, whose character and situation encouraged the hope of a glorious 
administration. His reign forms a new Epoch in the history of his family, 
as from that period the House of Austria embraced a larger sphere of action, 
and no longer confined its eif orts to Hungary, the Empire, and Switzerland.' 
—0. 

HMFORTAZ^CB OF THIIS i^GB OF MASLlX^Il.Iilia', 

marked by the increasing change wrought by the prog-ress 
of tlie art of Printing", tSie introduction of Gunpowder 
into war, tlie snbstituition of Brilled Troops for tlie 
Feudal Militia, and tlie Biscovery of iimeriea-t 

* Read the fine character of Frederic III. in Coxe, vol. i. ch. xix. p. 311. 
His famous and favourite anagram on the vowels of the alphabet is there 
given. 

t In all that concerns 'the character of the Epoch of Maximilian,' I 
have to acknowledge my great obligations to Bryce, Essay, p. 124 seqq. 
Bead also on the state of Europe at the accession of Maximilian, and the 
efEects of the invention of gunpowder and the art of printing, Coxe, vol. i. 
ch. XX. p. 340 seqq. ; and Hallam's Middle Ages, ch. v. vol. ii. p. 94 of the 
3 vol. edition. 



1- 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CIRC. 1490. 51 



COMMENCEMENT OF TRE REAL POWER 
AND PREPONDERATING INFLUENCE OF THE 
HAPSBURG FAMILY IN GERMANY. « just as under 

Otho and his successors the Roman Empire ^\'as Teutonised, so no^y under 
the Hapsburg dynasty, from whose hands the Empire departed only once 
thenceforth, the Teutonic Empire tends more and more to lose itself in an 
Austrian monarchy. Of this monarchy, and of the power of the House 
of Hapsburg, Maximilian was, even more than Rudolf, his ancestor, the 
founder. Uniting in his person those wide domains through Germany 
which had been dispersed among the collateral branches of his house, and 
claiming by his marriage with ]\[ary of Burgundy most of the territories of 
Charles the Bold, he was a prince greater than any who had sat on the Ten- 
tonic throne since the death of Frederic II. But it was as Archduke of 
Austria, Count of Tyrol, Dul?:e of Styria and Carinthia, feudal superior of 
lands in Suabia, Alsace, and S^vitzerland, that he was great, not as Roman 
Emperor. For just as from him the Austrian monarchy begins, so with 
him the Holy Empire, in its old meaning, ends. That strange system of 
doctrines, half religiotis ha^lf political, which had supported it so long, waa 
gi-owing obsolete, and the theory which had wrought such changes in Ger- 
many and Europe, passed ere long so completely from remembrance that we 
can now do no more than call tip a faint and wavering image of what it 
must once have been.' — Br. 

Second marriage of the Emperor Maximilian "with. Bianca 
Maria Sforza, the rich sister of John Galeazzo, Duke of 
Milan^ after driving the Tm-ks out of Stjria and Carinthia, 
1494. Philip, son of the Emperor, Kegent for his father in 
the Low Countries ^ suppresses the revolt in Guelderland. 

Expedition of Charles VIII., King of France, into Italy 
1494- the commencement of the French aggressions in 
Italy j marches through the country; enters Rome and 
Naples in triumph, 1495, but is compelled to evacuate the 
country and to return, with the loss of the greater part of his 
army ; league formed against him by the Emperor, the Pope, 
the King of Aragon, and the cities of Milan and Florence. 

Great Diet of the Empire held at Worms by the Emperor, 
who attemiJtsto reform the Germanic Constitution ] ordinances 
passed to establish a imhlic peace, and institute an Imperial 
Chamhet^ t (co-existent with^ and the rival of which, was 
^ the Aulic Chamber ' of later times), in order to take 

* ' This expedition is usually considered to mark the close of the Middle 
Ages.' — /. G. L. It is so viewed by Hallam, Middle Ages, ch. v, vol. ii. p. 94. 

t Read particularly HaUam's Middle Ages, ch. v. vol. ii..p. 95.. The whole; 
of the chapter is extremely interesting. 

E 2- 



52 



LOSS OF STVITZERLA^T>. 



cognisance of legal matters and make the administra- 
tion of justice by permanent Imperial officials uniform 
throughout the country : attempts to establish a regidar 
systeyn of Taxation (the payment of ^ the Common 
Penny and promote the maintenance of order by the 
division of the Umpire into ten Circles^ each of which 
Tvas to form a league similar to the Suabian League. ' At the 

Diet lield at Worms, ilaximilian zealously laboured to increase the external 
power 01 the Empire, by promoting its internal union, order, and peace ; 
but only succeeded in rendering the corJusion systematic, the absurdities 
hitherto unrecognised by law legal, and the external weakness and internal 
anarchy of the Empire eternal. The Empire was one confused mass of 
electorates, duchies, earldoms, bishoprics, abbeys, imperial free towns and 
estates of the nobility, which, whether great or small, refused to yield to one 
another, and jealously asserted their independence. 2s one possessed suffi- 
cient power to maintain order by force, or sufficient confidence to intrust 
that power to another.'— J/. Tae Emjnre poverty -stric'ken ; the 

taxes imposed to furnish and pay soldiers against the Turks 

and the French in Italy, granted by the Diet^ but never 

paid. 

Fruitless expedition of the Emperor into Italy.* ' instead of 

appearing at the head of 9,000 men, he is only able to send 3,000 to join the 

army of the allies. —C. Charles Ylll. retires from Italy as 
rapidly as he entered it ; the French garrisons are ex- 
joelled from their strongholds by Ferdinand, assisted by a 
Spanish force under the great Captain Gonsalvo de Cordova, 
1495. Marriage of the Emperor's son Philip with Joanna 
of Castile, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, 

' los dos reyes CatoJicOs' ' The prosperity of Eerdinand and Isabella was 
embittered by the death of their only son. Their daughter Juanna married 
the Archduke Philip (son of the Emperor lEaximilian and ]\Iaiy of Bur- 
gundy), and the great successions of the Houses of Austria, of An-agon, and 
of Castile, were gradually accimiulated on the head of Charles T., the for- 
tunate onspring of that marriage.' — G. 21. W. 

"War between the Empire and the Swiss Confederation, 

1498; successes of the Swiss over the Imperial forces. 

Tinal separation of Switzerland from tbe Empire, 

1499. ':Maximilian tried to reconquer the Swiss, but after a furious 
struggle, in which the valleys of Western Tyrol were repeatedly laid waste 
bv the peasants of the Engadin, he was forced to give way, and in a.d. 1500 



* ' The Swiss employed as hired troops ; they play a conspicuous part in 
the wars of Italy.' — /. G. L. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSEURG, CIEC. 1500. 



53 



r^ognised them by treaty as practically Independent.' — Br. Fruitless 

attempts of the Emperor to raise a crusade against the 
Turks ; he endeavours to obtain the Regency of Castile, on 
the death of Philip, his son (the Eegent of Castile), and the 
insanity of Juanna ; Ferdinand, King of Arragon, obtains the 
Regency from the Cortes for his grandson, Charles (after- 
wards Charles v.). Death of Pope Alexander VI. (Borgia), 

and election of J ulius II. ' The warlike and intriguing spirit of this 
Pope, who forsook the character of a prelate for that of a temporal prince, 
gave a fatal blow to the already tottering spiritual power of the Papacy, and 
paved the way for the Eeformation. He reunited the Papal territories \)y 
force of arms, personally heading his troops, and formed in 1508 the League 
of Cambray against Venice : he excommunicated the republic, which ap- 
pealed to a General Coimcii.'— 0. c. T. ^Yar between Mian and 

Venice, during which the Emperor, at the head of a small 
force, enters Italy on his way to Pome in order to take pos- 
session of Milan and to be crowned by the Pope, Julius 11. , 
and to aid him against the threatened invasion of the French 
under Louis XII. : he is refused a passage by the Venetians, 
who oppose him with superior forces, defeat his troops in 
his absence in the Friuli, and compel him to return ; the 
Venetians take Trieste and Fiume. The Emperor, unable to 
reach Rome, is croxmed by the Archbishop of Salzburg at 
Trent J in the name of the Pope, 1508, and assumes the title 

of ^ Imperator Electus. ' « This title, which Maximilian obtains leave 
from Julius II. to assume, marks the severance of Germany from Rome. 
No subsequent Emperor received his crown in the ancient capital (Charles Y. 
was indeed crowned by the Pope's hands, but it was at Bologna, and so 
of at least questionable validity) ; each assumed after his German coronation 
the title of "■Emperor Elect,'' and employed this in all documents issued in 
his name. To this Maximilian appended " Germauife Rex," or, adding 
Frederic II. 's bequest, " Kbnig in Germanien imd Jerusalem." Out of the 
title " King of Germany," and that of " Emperor," European usage formed 
the phrase "German Emperor," or, more incorrectly, "Emperor of Ger- 
many." ' — Br. 

Maximilian j oins the Xieagrue of Cambray, 1508.* «The 

Emperor, the King of Prance, the King of Aragon, and the Pope (Julius II.), 
were principals in the League of Cambray, to which almost all the princes 
of Italy acceded, the least considerable of them hoping for some share in 
the spoils of a State which they deemed to be now devoted to destruction. 
. . . The Venetians, surrounded by so many enemies, and left without one 



« Read, on the League of Cambray, its formation, and the causes of its 
dissolution, Coxe, vol. i. ch. xxiv. p. 348 seqq. 



54 



MAXIMILIAN I., CIRC. 1500. 



ally, sank from tlie height of presumption to the depths of despair, aban- 
doned all their territories on the continent, and shut themselves up in their 
capital, as their last refuge, and the only place which they hoped to pre- 
serve.'— P. R. 

Commencement about tMs time of tlie first conscious 

feeling of German Nationality, as distinct from 

Smperiali ' Driven in on all sides, with Italy and the Slavic lands, and 
the Arelat hopelessly lost, Teutschland* learnt to separate itself from 
AVelschland. The Empire became the representative of a narrower but more 
practicable national union. It is not a mere coincidence that at this date 
there appear several notable changes of style. " Nationis Teutonics" (Teut- 
scher Xation) is added to the simple " sacrum imperium Romanum."' — B7\ 

Successes of the Impeiial and Papal forces against the 
Venetians; imminent danger of the Republic of Venice ; it 
is saved by the defection of the Pope ; Maximilian makes 
an expedition into Italy ; endeavours to summon a General 

Council, and is said to have 'formed a wild and romantic project to 
resign the Empire to his grandson, and to obtain the Papacy on the medi- 
tated deposition of Julius 11.'— c. 1511. Maximilian joins the Holy 

League against France ; ceaseless intrigues, wars, and alli- 
ances, 2:)ro and con, between the Emperor, the King of France, 
the Swiss, the Pope, and the Venetians, and the English, 
during which Maximilian serves as a volunteer in the English 
army of Henry VIII., and helps to defeat the French at 
Guinegate, also called ^ the Battle of the Spurs,' 1513. The 
Emperor's gallant but useless feats of arms ; his enterprises 
crippled from want of money: finally, he is deserted by his 
Swiss mercenaries, and his cause abandoned by his grandson 

Charles. ' it was the fate of Maximilian to fail in all his foreign enter- 
prises, even when he seemed most secure of success.' — C. 

Peace concluded with France, 1516. 'The levity of Maximilian 
engaged him in perpetual wars and treaties, v,hich commonly ended in his 
disappointment and confusion. However, he may be considered as the 
foimder of the Austrian greatness b^' his marriage with Mary of Burgimdy, 
and as the founder of the public law by his useful institutions of the circles 
and of the Imperial Chamber.'— M. W. 

Useful Heforms carried out br/ the JSmjjeror in the hereditary 
States, afterwards extended to other ])aHs of the Empire, by 
establishing various boards or colleges for the administra- 
tion of justice, the management of the revenue, the direction 



* On the derivation of this name, Teutschland, or DeuUcMand, see Appendix. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CIRC. 1510. 



55 



of tlie ordnance, the buildings, and the rights of the SoT'e- 
reign : over all these was the Aulic Council.* ' The active part 

Jilaximilian took in the transactions of the Empire and of Europe has caused 
historians almost to pass over in silence those of his own hereditary do- 
minions. But their very silence proves the vigour and wisdom of his 
administration ; for ii e-\-inces that his States were relieved from those 
troubles which mark the reigns of all his predecessors, and all his provinces 
exempted from the calamiaes of war, except those which were exposed to 
the attacks of the Venetians.' — C. 

COMMEia-CSMSIffT OF THE :Bi:FORMATIOZa- ; 

Dr. Tetzel, in G-ermany, selling indulgences to the people. The preach- 
ing of MAKTIItf SaUTHE^", t he affixes his celebrated 
Thesis to the door of the castle-church of Wittemberg^ 
October 3lst4 1517, about a year and a quarter be- 
fore the death of the Emperor. 'This thesis or subject of dis- 
putation contained ninetj^-five propositions, in which, without directly 
attacking indulgences or the power of the Church, he asserted their total 
inutility, and the necessity of faith, contrition, and repentance for obtaining 
pardon of sins. He concluded this challenge with condemning several pro- 
positions which he attributed to his adversaries, and inserting several 
contemptuous questions, which did not spare either the conduct or person of 
the Pope.'— a 

Unsuccessful attempt of the Emperor at the Diet of 
Augsburg to raise a crusade against the Tui-ks, and to se- 
cure the election of his grandson Charles as King of the 
Romans^ 1518. 

Luther summoned by the Pope, Leo X., to appear at 
Rome within sixty days to defend himself on the charge of 
heresy, 1518. Maximilian's letter to the Pope, stigmatising 
the principles of Luther as heretical. 'From the favourable 

opinion he had at first entertained of Luther and of his spirit and acuteness, 
the Emperor was, in the progress of the dispute, gradually drawn, and either 
from conviction, from pique against Frederic of Saxony for opposing the 
election of his grandson, or from a desire of conciliating the Pope, was 
induced to interfere in the controversy.' — C. 

Siutber is summoned by tlie Zieg-ate Cardinal 



* Read on the AuJic Council, the extract from the Introduction to Robert- 
son's Charlies F., prefixed to this work. 

t Read ch, cxii. in Menzel. vol. ii. p. 218 segq., and Coxe, vol. i. ch. xxv. 
p. 385 segq. The two fine articles on Luther in the Edinb. Rev. by Rogers and 
Sir James Stephen, republished in their Essays, are well kno^^m. Extracts 
are given of them in the Appendix. Read also a charming Lecture, by 
Stanley, on the Reformation, in a volume published by the Rev. J. H. G-urney, 
called Evening Recreations (Longman & Co.). 

J According to some, on All Saints' Day, Xov. 1st. 



56 



CHARLES v., CIRC. 1520. 



Cajetan, on the injunction of Pope Leo X., to appear 
before the Diet of iLugrsbur^, 1519 ; lie defends his 
opinions 'y is supported by Frederic the Wise, Elector of 
Saxony, and appeals ^from the Pope ill-informed to the 
Pope better-informed.' Bull issued by the Pope, ^asserting 
the efficacy of indulgences, and excommunicating all who 
held or taught a contrary opinion.' 

Death of the Emperor Maximilian, 1519.* « At this critical 

moment, before the Papal Bull could be presented to him, the Emperor died. 
The government devolved on the Elector of Saxony, as vicar of the Empire ; 
the proceedings against the great Reformer were thus suspended, and he was 
enabled to improve his knowledge of the Scriptures in silence and in safety, 
to propagate his opinions, and to prepare himself for the coming hostilities.' 
—C. 

CKARXills v., grandson of the Emperor Maximilian^ 
Governor of the Low Countries at the age of sixteen, King 
of Spain on the death of Ferdinand the CatholiC; 1516, 
recognised as King by the Cortes of Arragon, 1517, and by 
the Cortes of Castile, 1518, unanimously elected SMPXS- 
HOR, June 28, 1519, against several competitors, among 
whom were the Kings of France and England, after that 
the Elector of Saxony, Frederic the Wise, had declined the 

Imperial crown. * After an election more memorable than any preced- 
ing — an election in which Francis I. of France and Henry Till, of England 
had been his competitors— a prince ascended the Imperial throne who united 
dominions v ster than any Europe had seen since the days of his great 
namesake. Spam and Naples, Flanders and other parts of the Burgundian 
lands, as well as large regions in Eastern G-ermany, obeyed Charles ; he drew 
inexhaustible revenues from a new Empire beyond the Atlantic. . . . Though, 
from the coldness of his manner and his Flemish speech, never a favourite 
among the Germans, Charles V. was in point of fact far stronger than 
Maximilian or any other Emperor who had reigned for three centuries. In 
Italy he was supreme; England he knew how to lead, by flattering Henry 
and cajoling Wolsey ; from no State but France had he serious opposition to 
fear. To this strength his Imperial dignity was indeed a mere accident : its 
sources were the infantry of Spain, the looms of Flanders, the sierras of 
Peru.'— ^r. 

€{)ronaIo5i'cal ^ummarp af tje prmcipal thmt^ in 
ti^t vtiQix of €!)arle^ W* Regent in Flanders for his grand- 
father Maximilian, 1515^ assumes the title of King of 



♦ For a very fine character of this Emperor, read Coxe, vol. i. ch. xxv, 
p. 392 seqq. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBUKG, CIRC. 1520. 57 

Castile and Arragon on tlie death of Ferdinand (Ximenes 
Eegent) ; treaty at Noyen with France (the coBditions of 
which, such as the marriag-e of Charles to Louise, eldest 
daughter of Francis I., were never fulfilled, though Hhe 
alliance united Charles and Francis for a time, and put an 
end to the bloody and tedious war that the League of 
Camhray had occasioned^ and gaye Europe a few yeai^s 
of universal tranquillity'), 1516; visits Spain, 1517-1520; 
his recognition as King while there, and election as Empe- 
ror; returns to the Low Countries ^ visits Henry VIII. at 
Dover, 1520. Summons the Diet of Worms^ 1521 ; gives 
Luther a safe-conduct, hut after allowing him to depart in 
safety, puts him under the ban of the Empire. First War 
with Francis 1. of France^ 1521-1526 (including the Battle 
of Pavia, 1525). [There were in all five distinct wars: 
Second war with France^ 1527, and storm and sack of 
Eome ; * third war with France, 1536 ; fourth war with 
France^ 1542 ; fifth war with France, 1552.] Grants the 
Island of Malta to the Knights of St. John on their expul- 
sion from Ehodes by Solyman the Magnificent, 1522 ; visits 
Spain again, and pacifies the insurrection and establishes 
tranquillity there, 1522 ; remains there till 1528 ; secret 
league with the Constable Bourhon during the first war 
with France, 1523 ; sets Francis I. at liberty^ after a year 
and twenty-two days' captivity, 1526 j marries Isabella of 
Portugal, and quells the insurrection of the peasantry in 
Suabia, Saxony, and Thuringia, 1526; agrees to set the 
Pope Clement VII. free, for a ransom, from his imprison- 
ment in the Castle of St. Angelo (the Pope escapes the 
previous night), 1527 ; is crowned King of Lombardy and 
Emperor of the Romans by the Pope Clement VII. at 
Bologna ; summons the Diet of Spires — the name of Pro- 
testants first applied to the Lutherans, 1529 ; he summoDS 



* Eead the fine chorus in Byron's drama, The Deformed Transformed^ 
begiiimng, ' 'Tis the mom ; but dark aud dim/ &a 



58 



CHARLES v., CIRC. 1500-1540. 



the Diet of Augsburg ; severe decree of tlie Emperor against 
the Protestants ; tlie Confession of Augsburg, and League 
of Smalkald, 1530. Raises a vast army to oppose Solynian^ 
who had invaded Hungary at the head of 300,000 men; takes 
the command in person, and forces Solyman to retire, 1532. 
Visits Italy, and negotiates with the Pope Clement VII. 
concerning holding a General Council ; enters into a league 
with the Pope and all the Italian States to secure the peace 
of Italy against the French and ^ all invaders,' and crosses 
from Italy into Spain, 1533. Insurrection of the Anabaptists 
in Germany, 1534 ; their head-quarters Miinster in West- 
phalia their excesses, frantic enthusiasm, and defence of 
Miinster against the forces of the Empire assembled in the 
Emperor's absence by his brother Ferdinand (entitled King 
of the Ptomans, and afterwards King of Spain) and the 
Bishop of Miinster ; the town stormed, and the insurrection 
quelled, 1535. During this time the Emperor invades Africa, 
lands near Tunis, takes the Goletta, and seizes Barbarossa's 
fleet ; defeats Barbarossa, takes Tunis, and liberates 20,000 
Christian captives. Tlie Emperor at the heig-lit of bis 
g:lory, 1535 ; invades France, enters Provence, ineffectually 
besieges Marseilles and Aries, is forced to retreat in a disastrous 
manner and with a shattered army, 1536 ; concludes truce for 
ten years with France, 1538; passes from Spain through 
France, by permission of Francis I., and quells the revolt of 
Ghent with great severity, 1540 ; refuses most dishonour- 
ably to fulfil his engagements to Francis I., and to grant 
Mm or one of his children the investiture of the Milanese, 
1540. Decrees a conference between the Lutheran and 
Romanist divines at the Diet of Patisbon ; its ^ Recess,^ or 
final sentence to refer the points of controversy to a general 
council, or, if that could not be obtained, to a national 
synod of Germany, 1541. Leads an unfortunate expedition 
to Algiers ; a large part of his armament is destroyed by a 
storm, and the Emperor nearly lost ) is forced to re-embark 



HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



59 



witli tlie remnant of Ms forces^ after showing tlie greatest 
courage and patience during liis retreat from Algiers to Cape 
Metafuz^ 1541. Concludes a league witli Henry VIII. of 
England for a joint invasion of France^ and devastates the 
Duchy of CleveSj while Solyman the Magnificent and Bar- 
bar ossa, in alliance with Francis I. of France^ ravage 
Hungary^ of which the Turks are virtually the masters, 
defeating the ilustrians at Esseg^ besieging Corfu, devas- 
tating the coast of Italy and besieging Nice, 1543. Courts 
the favour of the Protestants at the Diet of Spires, to 
whom he promises concessions in order to obtain their sup- 
port in a war against France ; invades Champagne^ in al- 
liance with Henry VIII., and besieges and takes St. Dizier, 
and advances into the heart of France, but concludes an 
advantageous separate peace at Crespy, near Meaux ; a secret 
article in it of agreement with Francis to exterminate heresy, 
i. e. Protestantism, out of their dominions, 1544. The Em- 
peror calls the Diet of Worms ; religious disputes j the 
Council of Trent meets (it had been summoned in 1542), 
imder Pope Paul HI. (Farnese); the Protestants reject all 
intercourse with the Council, and refuse the Imperial de- 
mands with regard to the Turkish war, 1545. The Emperor 
continues to attempt to deceive the Protestants; makes a 
league with the Pope, binding himself to extirpate heresy, 
i. e. Protestantism, by force of arms ; concludes a truce with 
Solyman ; the Emperor endeavours to conceal his intentions 
from the Protestants, who make preparations for their own 
defence ; the Pope (Paul HI.) disconcerts the Emperor's 
schemes by publishing a bull promising indulgence to all 
who took part in this holy war; the Protestants levy an 
army, solicit aid from the Venetians, Francis I., and Henry 
VIII. ; are laid under the ban of the Empire ; declare war : 
the Emperor awaits in Patisbon the arrival of the Papal 
forces and his Flemish troops, 1546 death of Luther in 
same year. War between the Emperor and the Protestant 



60 



CHARLES v., CIRC. 1550. 



confederates, also called the Smalkaldian War, from 1546- 
1555, terminated by the Peace of Augsburg. [See below for 
the principal events of this war.] The Emperor resigns the 
interior administration of Germany to his brother Ferdinand, 
and shortly afterwards resigns his hereditary dominions to 
his son Philip, 1555 a few weeks after abdicates the Spa- 
nish throne in his favour, with all the territories depending 
on it both in the Old and New World, reserving himself 
only a pension, and abdicates the Imperial throne in favour 
of his brother Ferdinand, and sets out for Spain, 1556 j the 
Emperor retires to the Monastery of St. Justus (^Yuste), in 
Estramadura j celebrates his own funeral there, and dies, 

1558. ' Charles V., who succeeded Ferdinand in 1516, governed Spain for 
forty years, and the general character of his administration was the same as 
that of his predecessors. In regard to his foreign policy, his three principal 
wars were against France, against the German princes, and against Turkey. 
Of these, the first was secular, but the two last were essentially religious. 
In the G-erman war, he defended the Church against innovation ; and at the 
battle of Miihlberg he so completely humbled the Protestant princes as to 
retard for some time the progress of the Reformation. In his other great 
war, he, as the champion of Christianity against Mohammedanism, consum- 
mated what his grandfather, Ferdinand, had begun. Charles defeated and 
dislodged the Mohammedans in the east, just as Ferdinand had done in the 
west ; the repulse of the Turks before Vienna being to the sixteenth century 
what the conquest of the Arabs of Granada was to the fifteenth. It was, 
therefore, with reason that Charles, at the close of his career, could boast 
that he had always preferred his creed to his country, and that the first 
object of his ambition had been to maintain the interests of Christianity. 
The zeal with which he struggled for the faith also appears in his exertions 
against heresy in the Low Countries. According to contemporary and com- 
petent authorities, from 50,000 to 100,000 persons were put to death in the 
Netherlands during his reign on account of their religious opinions. Later 
inquirers have doubted the accuracy of this statement, which is probably 
exaggerated ; but we know that between 1520 and 1550 he published a series 
of laws to the effect that those who were convicted of heresy should be 
beheaded, or burned alive, or buried alive. The penalties were thus various, 
to meet the circumstances of each case. Capital punishment, however, was 
always to be inflicted on whoever bought an heretical book, or sold it, or 
even copied it for his own use. His last advice to his son well accorded with 
these measures. Only a few days before his death he signed a codicil to his 
will, recommending that no favour should ever be shov^n to heretics ; that 
they should be all put to death ; and that care should be taken to uphold the 
Inquisition, as the best means of accomplishing so desirable an end. 

' This barbarous policj^ is to be ascribed, not to the vices, nor to the tem- 
perament of the individual ruler, but to the operation of large general 
causes, which acted upon the individual, and impelled him to the course he 
pursued. Charles was by no means a vindictive man ; his natural disposi- 
tion was to mercy rather than to rigour ; his sincerity is unquestionable ; 
lie performed what he believed to be his duty ; and he was so kind a friend 



HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



61 



that those who knew him best were precisely those who loved Mm most. 
Little, however, could all that avail in shaping his public conduct. He was 
obliged to obey the tendencies of the age and country in which he lived. 
And what those tendencies were appeared still more clearly after his death, 
when the throne of Spain was occupied upwards of forty years by a prince 
who inherited it in the prime of life, and whose reign is particularly in- 
teresting as a symptom and a consequence of the disposition of the people 
over whom he ruled.'— ^. 

Tlie most prominent features in tlie eyentful reign 
of the EMPBI^OR CHARXiliS V. were : — 

The First War with Francis L, 1521-1526^ owing to the 
refusal of Francis I. to restore the Duchy of Burgundy 
(taken from the Empire by Louis XI.), and the refusal of 
Charles V. to restore the Kingdom of Navarre, conquered 
from France by Ferdinand the Catholic — including the loss 
of Milan by the French j the desertion of the Constable 
Bourbon, the death of Chevalier Bayard,* and the battle of 
Pavia, and the capture of Francis I.f 

THE PROGRESS OF THE REFORBCATION-,— 

* the second G-reat Convulsion of Modern History , making a division in the 
fortunes of Europe deeper than any other since the fall of the Roman Em- 
pire ; brought about, like that first great Revolution, by the Northern or 
G-erman nations — not, as in the earlier instance, by an outward invasion of 
barbarian tribes, but \>y an inward rising of the human mind and conscience, 
and in its outward effects hardly less strongly marked on the whole surface 
of society. ... It has indeed placed a barrier between us and the ages that 
went before ; and, remarking how violent the shock must have been ; re- 
membering the vast mass of ancient associations, feelings, practices, institu- 
tions, which were utterly swept away, not only in the Protestant, but in the 
Roman Catholic countries of Europe ; remembering the panic, the per- 
plexity, the chaos which must have resulted, — it is of the greatest comfort 
to us to reflect that, great as this shock was, the most civilised part of 
Em'ope now looks back to it as the most blessed event which has taken place 
since the introduction of Christianity.' — A. P. S. 

Including^ among its most prominent events, the IJiet of 
Worms, and the appearance of Martin Luther there, J: 
1521 ; the Peasants' War, 1525 and 1526 ; tlie Biet of 
Spires, and origin of the name of Protestantj 1529 ; the 

* Read the extract from Bonnechose, Hist, of France, given in my Analysis 
of English and French Hist. p. 9-3 of the sixth edit. 

■ t Read the extract from Sir Francis Palgrave's article from Quart. Review, 
given in mj Analysis of English and French Hist., on the apocryphal sentence, 
' tout est perdu fors Vhonneur ; ' and, on the battle of Pavia, read extract from 
Robertson in Appendix to this work. 

X On Luther at AVorms, read the graphic extract from Carlylc's Heroes 
and Hero Worship, given in the Appendix. 



62 



CHARLES v., CIRC. 1550, 



Biet of iLizgrsburgr, and ^ the Confession of ikugrsbupgr^' 

drawn up by Melanctlion^ and sig-ned by the Protestant 
princes and deputies from the Protestant cities, 1530. The 
Smalkaldian War, or War of the Protestant League entered 
into at Smalkald ; the principal leaders in which were Fre- 
deric, the Elector of Saxony, and after his death his brother 
John, also Elector of Saxony ; Philip, Landgrave of Hesse ; 
the Duke of Wurtemberg ; the Princes of Anhalt, and the 
Imperial cities of Augsburg, Ulm, and Strasburg (after- 
wards joined by Duke Mamice of Saxony): the battle of 
Muhlberg, 1547; the siege of Magdeburg; the articles, or 
system of doctrines, known by the name of the Interim,* 
1548, issued by the Emperor at the Diet of Augsburg ; the 
defection of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, 1551 ; the flight 
of the Emperor from Innspruck ; the Convention of Passan 
(allowing the free exercise of their religion to the Protes- 
tants till a General Diet should be assembled), 1552 ; the 
victory and death of Maurice at Sieverhausen, the re- 
assemblage of the Diet of Augsburg, and the ratification of 
Hhe HeUgioiis Peace of Ay g shir a,' 1555, — 'granting (a nominal) 

Toleration to the Protestants who adhered to the Confession of Augsburg, 
but excluding the followers of Zuinglius and of Calvin, and extending the 
benefits of the pacification to theEonianists ; coupled with the " Reservatum 
Ecclesiasticum," preserving to the Catholic Church the benefices of such 
ecclesiastics as might hereafter become Protestants.' — 0. C. T. ' This peace 
was naturallj^ a mere political agreement provisionally entered into by the 
princes, for the benefit, not of religion, but of themselves. ... By this 
treaty, branded in history as the most lawless ever concerted in G-ermany, 
the principle " cujus regio, ejus religio " — the faith of the prince must be that 
of the people, was laid do^^^l. By it not only the reformed subjects of a 
Catholic prince were exposed to the utmost cruelty and tyranny, but the 
religion of each separate country was rendered dependent on the caprice of 
the reigning prince : of this, the Pfalz ofi:ered a sad example, the religion of 
the people being thus four times arbitrarily changed. Freedom of belief, 
confined to the immediate subjects of the Empire — for instance, to the 
reigning princes, the free nobility, and the city councillors — was monopolised 
by, at most, 20,000 privileged persons, including the whole of the impove- 
rished nobility and the oligarchies of the most insignificant Imperial free 
towns. . . . The ecclesiastical princes, to the great prejudice of the Refor- 
mation, did not participate in this privilege. By the ecclesiastical proviso, 
they were, it is true, personally permitted to change their religion, but 
incurred thereby the deprivation of their dignities and possessions.' — J/. 



* Read Eobertson's Charles V. bk. ix. voL iii. p. 4AZ- 



HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



The Second War ivith Francis I., 1527-1529, remark- 
able for the storm and sack of Rome by tlie troops of tli© 
Bourbon. 

' The black bands came over 
The Alps and the snow ; 
With Bourbon the rover, 
They crossed the broad Po.' — Byron. 

the conquest of Naples by tbe Frencli ; and the Peace of 
Cambray, also called Hhe Ladies' Peace.'* 

The Turkish War, continued almost without intermission 
during the whole of this reign ; ravages and desolation of 
Hungary, of which they make themselves almost totally 
masters, after the fatal battle of Mohacs, 1526, in which 
Louis, last King of Hungary, is slain. 

The Expedition against Tunis^ 1535, as successful as that 

against Algiers^ 1541, was unsuccessful. t 

The Council of Trent, X 1545-1563. 'The last G-eneral CouncH, 
not acknowledged by the Protestants, anathematises most of the Lutheran 
doctrines ; declares the Apocrypha of equal authority with the rest of the 
Scriptures, and confirms most of the abuses which had crept into the 
Church ;— its decrees received in the Catholic portion of Germany, in Poland, 
and in Italy, but not in Hungary or France, and only partially in Spain and 
Portugal. Instead of reuniting the Christian world, its decrees have proved 
an insuperable line of demarcation between the Catholics and Protestants.' — 
0. C. T, 

The Abdication of the Empei^or,^ 1555 and 1556. The 
government is carried on in his name till his death, in 1558. 

Ferdinand E., brother to Charles Y., and King of Bo- 
hemia and Hungary (by his marriage with Anne, daughter 
of Louis II., last King of Bohemia and Hungary), and 
titular King of the Romans (in 1531), elected Smperor, 

IS 58. ' The crown of Spain, the Netherlands, Sicily, Sardinia, Naples, 
the recently-discovered West India Islands, the colonies on the North Coast 
of Africa, the Canary Islands, the provinces of Utrecht, Oberyssel, and 



* As having been negotiated by Francis I.'s mother, Louisa, and Margaret 
of Austria, aunt to the Emperor Charles Y. 

t Read extract from Prescott's edit, of Robertson's Charles V., in Appendix. 

t For a short and clear account of the Council of Trent, read the article 
in Hook's Church Dictionary. For more, read Coxe, Menzel, or D'Aubigne's 
Hist, of the Reformation. 

§ Read the extract from Robertson, given in the Appendix ; and the fine 
sketch of his character in the same work, vol. iv. bk. xii. p. 286 seqg. Read 
also the remarks on his death, character, and family, in Coxe, vol. i. ch. xxxii. 
p. 483 seqq. 



64 



FERDINAND I., CIRC. 1560. 



G-roningen, the rich transatlantic countries of Mexico, Peru, Chili, Quito, 
and New Grenada,— the ^Yhole of this enormous mass of territory, the Empe- 
ror Charles Y. delivered over in 1556 to his only son Pliilip, afterwards 
Philip II. of Spain.' — P. ' Charles Y. would ^^-iliingly have resigned the 
crown of the Empire to his son Philip, had not the Spanish education of that 
prince, his gloomy and bigoted character, inspired the Germans with an 
aversion as miconquerable as that with which he beheld them. Ferdinand 
had, moreover, gained the favour of the German princes.' — M. 

The 7'eaction in favour of Roman-Catholicism begins. 
Power of the Jesuits in Germany ; tlieir influence ; and pre- 
ponderance of the Spaniards. The Emperor opposed in his 
hereditary provinces by a predominating Protestant party, 
and politically overbalanced by his nephew, Philip II., in 
Spain and Italy, where Catholicism flourished ; pernicious 
influence exercised thereby on the whole of Germany; 
Catholics thereby supported; reconciliation rendered im- 
possible, and admission gained for the Spaniards and Italians 
into Germany. 

The Turkish War and the devastation of Hungary still 
go on, till 1562, when a truce for eight years is concluded 
with Sultan Solyman* the Mag-nificent, the Emperor agree- 
ing to become a vassal of the Porte; SoljTuan, however, 
infringes the treaty, conquers Carniola and Transylvania, 
and dies at a later period, in the reign of Maximilian II., 
before the walls of Sigeth, gallantly defended by the Hun- 
garian Nicolas Zriny.f 

The Emperor efl'ects a rebniution in Qab^mment of 
^Sciljmta, c^anginci it from m\ tlttii^yt ta an l^rnXfttarw 
monarcf)^, and quells the insurrection at Prague by severe 
measures. 

Efibrts of the Emperor to reunite the Catholic and Pro- 
testant parties ; tacit toleration of the Protestants, whom he 
endeavours to conciliate : all his attempts to heal the schism 
in the Church fail. 

* This Sultan was the builder of the magnificent Suleimanyeh Mosque, at 
Constantinople— perhaps the most beautiful mosque in the world ; after that 
of Omar (so called), in Jerusalem. For a sketch of his eventful reign, and 
Ms two campaigns in Hungary, read Hist, of the Ottoman Empire, by Jacob, 
Procter, &c., republished from the Enajdopcedia Metropolitana, oh, xii. 
pp. 349-357. Cabinet edit, by Griffin & Co. 

t Aiter this period the Turkish power begins to decline. — /. G. L, 



HOUSE OF HAPSBUR&. 



65 



SftSaximiliasi SI. (son of Ferdinand 11.;, Smperor, 1564. 

* A mild and sagacious prince.' — P. 'He remained, indeed, himself within 
the pale of the Church, but never swerved from the most liberal toleration.' 
— C. ' The Emperor, previous to his accession, had gained great popularity 
in Grermany, by his inclination to favour the Lutherans ; but, unstable in 
character, he committed the fault of granting religious liberty to his subjects 
without embracing Lutheranism himself, and consequently exposed them to 
the most fearful persecution under his successor.'— J/". 

The Empire externally at peace j fresh peace for eiglit 
years with, the Turks, 1568. 

Unceasing dissensions between the Catholic and Protes- 
tant princeS; and between the Lutherans and Calvinists. 

* Fortunately, an open schism among the Protestants, and a civil war in the 
Empire, were prevented by the intervention of the Emperor.' — C. The 

Emperor endeavours to prevent Germany being disturbed 
by religious feuds^ and to hinder the religious contests which 
prevailed in France and the Netherlands from extending 
into Germany. 

[Kise of the Huguenot party about this period in France ; 
civil wars^ and massacre of St. Bartholomew^ 1572. Eeign 
of terror under the bloody Duke of Alva, and revolt in the 
Netherlands against Philip 11. of Spain.] 'The rest of Germany 

beheld the great struggle in the Ketherlands with almost supine indifference. 
The destruction, of the Calvinistic Dutch Avas not unwillingly beheld by the 
Lutheraas. The demand for assistance addressed, 1570, by the Dutch to the 
Diet of Worms received for reply that Spain justly punished them as rebels 
against the principle of " cujus regio, ejus religio." ' — M, ' As the struggle 
(of the Reformation), once begun, was maintained with great obstinacy, it 
soon led to serious political convulsions. Half of Geniiany, Denmark, 
Sweden, Norway, Prussia, and Livonia, accepted the doctrines of Luther, as 
taught in the Confession of Augsbm-g. England, Scotland, Holland, and 
Switzerland, embraced the tenets of Zuinglius and Calvin ; while efforts to 
establish similar principles were made in France, Bohemia, Hungary, and 
Poland.'— M. AL H. 

I^udolpli II. (son of Maximilian), previously crowned 
King of Bohemia and Hungar}^, and King of the Romans^ 

Smperor, 1576. ' "A second Frederic III.," who bestowed no atten- 
tion upon the Empire, but devoted his whole thoughts to his horses, to the 
collection of natural curiosities and pictures, to the study of alchymy and 
astrology, in which he was assisted by the Dane Tycho de Brahe, and by 
Kepler, the great German astronomer.' — J/. Xhe Emperor fixes his 

residence at Prague j his palace the famous Hradschin. 

INCREASING DISCORD BETWEEN THE 
PROTESTANTS AND CATHOLICS. 'TheEeHgioua 

F 



66 



RUDOLPH II., CIRC. 1600. 



Peace of Augsburg had failed to reconcfle tlie contending parties, who were 
still further estranged by the decision of the Council of Trent, and by varioua 
untoward circumstances, such as the expulsion of the Protestants from Aix- 
la-Chapelle, where they had seized the reins of government ; and the excom- 
munication by the Pope of Gebhard, Elector of Cologne, who had gone over 
to Calvinism ; the expulsion of a Protestant bishop from Strasburg ; and the 
placing the Protestant city of Douauwerth under the ban of the Empire, for 
obstructing the Romish worship.' — P. 

The authority of the Emperor is disregarded by the princes 
of the Empire^ who wage mil war among themselves, and 
the influence of Austria in Germany declines almost to 
nothing. The Jesuits spread over the whole of the Catholic 
world. The war with the Turks in Hungary still goes on. 
The Protestants are persecuted in the Austrian dominions. 

Formation of * tlie Protestant^' or * Evan-gellcalp 
Union ' of the Protestant princes, under the Elector Pala- 
tine, Frederic Y., son-in-law of James I. of England, 
1608, for the purpose of mutual protection : — opposed by 

Ttie Catholic Iiea^ue, 1610, of the Catholic princes, 
headed by Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, in which foreign 
as well as German princes joined. Toleration granted to 
the Protestants of Bohemia by the Emperor ; 1609. ' All who 

were formerly called Utraquisfs in Bohemia, from their possessing the com- 
munion in both kinds, joined the followers either of Luther or Calvin. 
TLudolph was obliged, at the Diet of Prague, to grant them the free exercise 
of their worsliip, without distinction of place, and even to extend this indul- 
gence to the Protestants of Silesia and Lusatia by letters patent, known by 
the name of Letters of Majesty.' — K. ' The Catholic party had gradually 
gained internal strength. Paul IV. commenced the restoration ; Pius IV. 
gave a new constitution to the Catholic world by the resolutions of the Coun^ 
cil of Trent ; Pius V. exchanged the shepherd's stalf for the faggot and the 
sword, and. by his example, sanctified the cruelties perpetrated by Philip II. ; 
G-regory XIII., the representative of Jesuit learning, put the Protestaiats to 
shame ^vith his improved calendar, published 158-4, and prot sted against by 
the Lutherans, who preferred an erroneous computation of time to anything, 
however accurate, proceeding from a Pope ; and finally, Sixtus V. again 
displayed the whole pomp of the triumphant Church from 1585 to 1590.' — M. 

Matthias^ younger brother and presumptive heir to the 
Emperor, wrests from him Austria and Hungary^ where he 
had defeated the Turks, 1 606, and endeavours to compel the 
Emperor, who had become contemptible from his incapacity 
and total neglect of the affairs of government, to abdicate, 
1611. Great political and religious troubles in Bohemia j 



HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, 



67 



the Emperor is compelled to grant toleration to his Pro- 
testant subjects. The disputed succession to the Duchies of 
JulierSj Berg, and Cleves sets th-e two great parties in array 
against each other, 1608-1612^ and, loith the Protestant Union 
and the Catholic League, gives rise to the great Tliirty Years' 
War, soon to break out. The intentions of Henry IV. 
of France to interfere in the affairs of the Empire^ and to 
humiliate the House of Austria, are cut short h}^ his assas- 
sination, 1610. The Emperor is gradually driven from his 
dominions, after a gallant defence of Prague, by his brother 
Matthias^ and compelled to abdicate,* 1612. The States 
of Bohemia claim the restoration and confirmation of their 
rights from Matthias on his coronation as King of Bohemia ; 
they are deceptively conceded by Matthias, who confirms 

the Letters of Majesty ; but ' the f allacj- of their hopes is clearly proved 
by the fact of Ferdinand's having annihilated in the mountains every trace 
of the liberty so deceitfully planted by his uncles and sovereigns in Bohemia.' 

Death of the Emperor Rudolph in his palace at Prague, 
of which he is still permitted to keep possession, 1611. 

Jnt^rtf giium of siji- nmntl)^, during which rtU^imi 
ferment in (§trmaug cautinue^ in all its violence^ but 
without any outbreak. 

Matthias, brother of Kudolph, elected, after considerable 
opposition, Smperor, 1612. Confirms the Letters of 
Majesty, or edict of Toleration, ' the PaUadium of Bohemian 
liberty,'- J/., granted by Eudolph II.; summons a diet, and in 
vain endeavours to obtain support for the Turkish war is 
distrusted by the Protestant party, and is compelled to 
make a truce for twenty years with the Turks, 1615. 

£nmttg of t^e ©at^olics ana ^Protestants 
continues to groin greater anO greater. ®i)e iSmpire 
is Utbtoa into tftree tfistinct parties of GTatSolies, 

1luti}erans, an& GTalbinists. ' Th^e i)arties were matuallj 



* Bead the account in Coxe, vol. ii. ch. xliv. p. 121 seqg^ 
F 2 



68 



MATTHIAS, CIRC. 1615. 



animated witli religious hatred, and ready to take arms against each other 
on the most trifling pretext.' — C. 

The Emperor in vain endeavours to restore tranquillity ; 
procures tlie election of Ms cousin Ferdinand, Duke of 
Styria, as King of Bohemia and Hungary, 1617. Ferdi- 
nand crowned King of Bohemia at Prague j confirms and 
even enlarges the Letter's of Majesty, « Matthias, imabie to recall 

past events, peaceably withdrew from, public life, committing the govern- 
ment to his cousin Ferdinand, whom he caused to be proclaimed King of 
Bohemia, and who was destined to discover the little accordance between 
the system of oppression pursued by him in the mountains and the letters 
patent issued by Eudolph. His arrival wath his Jesuitical counsellors at 
Prague filled Bohemia with dread, nor was it diminished by his hypocritical 
oath to hold the letters patent issued by Eudolph sacred ; for how could a 
Jesuit be bound by an oath ? ' — M. 

Ferdinand leaves the government of Bohemia in the 
hands of Slawata, a pervert from Protestantism, and Mar- 
tinitz ; goes on a pilgrimage to Loreto and binds himself 
by vow there to extirpate all heresy in his dominions, visits 
E,ome, and is consecrated by the Pope Clement VIII., and 
his resolutions strengthened by the Pope's exhortations. 
Strict censorship of the press established in Bohemia by 
Ferdinand on his return ; all Protestant preachers and 
schoolmasters are banished ; great oppression of the people 
and systematic violation of their rights. The order issued 
by Ferdinand to shut up the new churches which the Pro- 
testants had erected at Braunau and Klostergrab, and to 
prohibit their worship, produces an outbreak at Prague ; — 
the delegates^ at the instigation of Count Thurn, the head of 
the Protestant party in Bohemia, tlirotn Slaivata, MartinitZy 
and their secretary Fahricius out of the window of the Council 
Chamber in the Hradschin* May 23, 1618. From this day 
dates the commencement of 



* Bead Coxe, vol. ii. ch. xlvi. p. 149 seqq. In their letter of apology to the 
Emperor, the Diet of Bohemia argued that this custom was ' justified by the 
example of Jezebel in Holy Writ, who was thrown from a window for per- 
secuting the people of G-od ; and was common among the Eomans, and all 
other nations of antiquity.' See also Menzel, vol. ii. ch. x^saii. p. 318. The 
window is still shown in the Hradschin, from which they were thrown. 
The height, as far as I can remember, may be about 70 feet. The unlucky 
victims of ' the ancient custom of Bohemia ' are said to have fallen upon a 
dunghill, and to have escaped without much injury. 



THE THIRTY YEARs' WAR, 1618-1648. 69 



THB THIRTY ITBARS' Wi^R, 1618-1648. 

Expulsion of the Jesuits by the Bohemian Estates, under 
the direction of Count Thurn ; an example followed by the 
rest of the hereditary provinces, Silesia, Moravia, Austria, 
and Hungary. The confederates march imder Count Thurn 
and Bethlem Gabor on Vienna, but are forced to retire : the 

war begins. 'Portents and omens of various kinds are supposed to 
presage the war.' — /. G. L. 

Death of Matthias II. ; 1617. 

Ferdinand II., Bmperor ; 1619. 'Jealous, bigoted, impla- 
cable, skilful in forming and concealing Ms plans, resolute to obstinacy in 
carrying them out in action, the House of Hapsburg could have had no 
abler and no more unpopular leader than Ferdinand II., in their second 
attempt to turn the German Empire into an Austrian military monarchy. 
They seemed for a time as near to the accomplishment of the project as 
Charles V. had been.' — Br\ ' Ferdinand II., under whom the Thirty Years' 
War broke out, was, as nearly as human bigotry and tjTanny would admit, 
the very counterpart of Philip II. of Spain.' *—Sm. JJe is d.eposed by 

the Diet of Bohemia, which elects Frederic V., Elector 
Palatine, King of Bohemia ; 1619. * in an evil hour for himself.' 
Bethlem Gabor is elected King of Himgary by the Hun- 
garian Protestants ; 1620. 

Thf> Principal Causes \ of THIS THIS^TY YEARS' 

(1618-1648) were— 

1. The Spirit of Religious Faction. 2. The consequent dis- 
solution of the Empire (no diet having been convened since 
1613). 3. The unceasing ground of quarrel furnished by the 
Church lands^ which Protestants had seized and which Jesuit 
confessors urged the Catholic princes to reclaim. 4. The 

* Read extracts in Appendix from Smythe's lectures on The Princes of the 
Jfouse of Austria, &c., and The Thirty Years' War. 

t ' If Henry lY. of France had lived, his scheme for making Christendom 
a*federate republic might have prevented this war.' — /. G. L. 

X ' This war, the longest, the most terrible which modem Europe has 
seen — in which " Germany was brayed as in a mortar under the iron mace 
of war," and from which, to this day, as many believe, it has only par- 
tially recovered— may be conveniently divided into three periods ; viz. from 
1618 to 1630, the triumph of the Catholic League and the Emperor; from 
1630 to 1632, the career of G-ustavus Adolphus to his death ; from 1632 to 
1648, the sixteen years during which the cause he came to support, though 
it staggered for a season under the blow of his death, yet never entirely lost 
the superiority which his victories had given it.' — Archbp. Trench's Lecture 
Gustavus Adolphus. 



70 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 1618-1648. 



influence of tlie Jesuits at tlie Austrian and Spanish courts. 
5. Tlie smouldering hate of half a century kindled hy the 
troubles of Bohemia. 6. The corrupt and reckless policy of 
the ministers of the indolent and vacillating Kudolph II., 
which had done much to exasperate the already suspicious 
minds of the Protestants. 7. The bigoted and arbitrary 
conduct of the princes of the House of Austria; and in 
especial the personal character of Ferdinand 11. 

The principal Causes of the spread and duration of the IVar^ 
ive)'e — 

1. The participation of the German League in it. 2. The 
renewal in 1621 of the war between Holland and Spain, 
wbich became interwoven with the German. 3. The im- 
plication in it of the Northern powers^ especially Sweden, 
after 1635. 4. The share taken in it by France since 1635 ; 
and the policy of Cardinal Tiichelieu (directed against the. 
House of Hapsburg), and his extensive influence in Europe. 

H. M. M. K ' The Thirty Tears' War made Germany the centre point 
of European politics. It was not, however, a war carried on from beginning 
to end with one plan and for one object. No one at its commencement 
could have foreseen its duration and extent. But the train of war was 
everywhere laid, and required only the match to set it going : more than one 
war was joined to it, and swallowed up in it, and though, first breaking out 
in Bohemia, it concerned only the House of Austria, yet by its originating 
in religious disputes, by its peculiar character as a religious war, and by the 
measures adopted both by the insurgents and the Emperor, it acquired such 
an extent that even the quelling the insurrection was insufacient to put a 
stop to it.' *—H, M. 

The tiDo great heroes of the Protestant Cause in Germany 
were the (I^krtor ^Balattuc, Frederic V.,t and t\)t illu^trtoujl 
^tDttfe, (§U^tabu^ ^tfoIp5w^> ^at once a Christian, a soldier, 
a statesman, and a king.' 

The principal leaders were, on the side of the Protestant 
Union J Count Thurn, Frederic Y. the Elector Palatine, 
Ernest Count of Mansfeld, George Frederic Margrave of 

* A rdsumd of the war is given in Heeren's Manual, vol. i. pt. i. pp. 
142-163; fully in Coxe, vol. ii. ch. xlvii.-lix., and briefly in Menzel, vol. 
ii. pt. xviii. ch. cciv.-ccxii. Read also Trench's Lectures, Gust. Adolphus, 
and The Thirty Years' War ; Macmillan & Co. 

t This view (the heroic) of his character, which is Professor Smythe's, 
seems to me, to say the least, far too favourable. He was son-in-law to 
James I. of England ; whose Elizabeth he married. Erom their Sophia 
our present Royal Family is descended, and derives its title. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



71 



Baden^ Cliristian of Anhalt, Betlilem Gabor^ Christian IV. 
of Denmark^ ^ the Student' in Upper Austria^ Giistavus 
Adolphus^ and his generals^ Bernhard of "Weimar, Gustavus 
Horn, Torstensohn, Baner^ and Wrangel j and the French 
generals Guebriant, Conde, &a 

On the Imperialist mid Catholic side, Maximilian, Duke of 
Bavarian Spinola, Wallenstein, Tilly, Pappenheim, John de 
Werth, Mercy, Melander, Montecuculi, and W allenstein's 
officers, Gallas, Piccolomini, Oolloredo, Isolani. Add to 
these, John George, Elector of Saxony, ' most infamous of iiis 

infamous house ; bribed by the cunning Austrian."' — Br,, the COWardlj 

abettor and accomplice of the Roman Catholics. 

THE LEADING EVENTS were— 

The irruption of Count Thum and Bethlem Gabor into 
Austria and the unsuccessful siege of Vienna ; 1619. The 
unsuccessful attempts of Frederic V., Elector Palatine, to en- 
gage the Protestant Union in his cause, while Ferdinand II. 
gains oyer the Catholic League by a compact with Maxi- 
milian of Bayaria, detaches the Elector of Saxony and the 
Landgraye of Hesse from the Protestant cause, and makes 
a truce with Bethlem Gabor : the Protestant Union makes 

a truce with the Catholic League ; 1620. ' Both parties pro- 
mised mutually to abstain from hostilities ; the Union engaged not to sup- 
port Frederic as King of Bohemia, the League not to attack the Palatinate. 
The Catholics were thus enabled to assist the arms of Ferdinand in Bohemia, 
and the Palatinate was left open to the invasion of the Spaniards or the 
Emperor, or to any of his allies except the Catholic ijeague.' Inyasion 

of the Palatinate by Spinola, and of Bohemia, by Maximilian 
of Bayaria and Tilly • battle of the White Mountain near 
Prague, defeat of the Bohemians, flight of Frederic V. ; 
1620. Conquest of Bohemia^ massacre of Prague ; total 
suppression of the Protestant religion in Bohemia, and abo- 
lition of the priyileges of the kingdom ; flight, banishment, 
and ruin of a yast number of the principal Protestant fami- 
lies ; 1621. ' The name of hardly any prince has been more execrated 
than that of Ferdinand II. After the battle of the White Mountain he treated 
Bohemia as a conquered country ; abolished the privileges of the kingdom ; 
published the most atrocious laws against the Protestants, whom he deprivo'd 
of their rights as citizens, as well as of their religious liberties ; drove 30,000 
of the best families into banishment ; and eudeavom-ed, by the most iniqui- 



72 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR, 1618-1648. 



tons means, totally to suppress the religion itself.' — T. N. A similar plan 
is pursued in Silesia j the country placed under martial law, 
and every kind of cruelty practised. The Elector Palatine 
Frederic V. is laid under the baa of the Empire ; and the 
war transferred to the Palatinate^ his hereditary dominion. 
Invasion of the Falatinate by Tilly and Spinola ; defeat of 
the Imperialists under Tilly by Mansfeld at Wisloch, but 
Tictorious at Wimpfen over the Margrave of Baden^ and 
over Christian of Brunswick at Hochst : storm and sack of 
Heidelberg and Mannheim by the Imperialists ; the Palatinate 
overrim, devastated, and totally conquered hy Tilly and Spinola ; 
1622. Revolt of Upper Austria during the same period, or 

a little later, ' where, the whole country being Lutheran, the soldiery of 
Maximilian of Bavaria, to whom the country had been consigned by Ferdi- 
nand II. , had free licence to plunder, vex, and murder the heretical peasantry.* 

— Heroic resistance of the peasantry ] the country is at 
length conquered and treated with horrible cruelty by 
Pappenheim. Outbreak of the Danish War ; part and portion 
of the Thirty Years' War ; 1625-1629. « By the carrying of the 

war into Lower Saxony, the principal seat of the Protestant religion in 
Germany (the States of which had appointed Christian IV. of Denmark, as 
Duke of Holstein, head of their conf ederacy ) , the northern States had already, 
though without any beneficial result, been involved in the strife, and the 

Danish war had broken out.' -IT. M. Campaign in Lower Saxmy, 
Hesse, Brunsuoick, Sfc., of Wallenstein and Tilly, against the 
Danes and Lutherans of Northern Germany j defeat of Chris- 
tian IV. at Lutter in Brims wick by Tilly; 1626. Frightful 
ravages of the Imperialists : Wallenstein defeats Mansfeld 
and Ernest of Weimar at Dessau, and forces them to retreat 
through Silesia into Hungary ; where they die. Wallenstein 
and Tilly carry on the war against Christian lY.^ and re- 
cover the countries on the Baltic^ with the exception of 
Stralsund^ which is vigorously defended; 1628. Peace of 
Lilheck ivith Christian IV. ; 1629 ) who thereby abandons 
the Protestant cause^ sacrifices his allies^ especially the Dukes 
of Mecklenburg (who are driven out of their dominions, and 
put under the ban of the Empire) ; but recovers the territories 
conquered by Wallenstein. The triumph of the Catho- 
lics apparently was complete : the Protestant cause 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



73 



seemed lost ; 1629. ' The more powerful among the princes of the 
Lutheran Union had turned traitors ; the lesser potentates had been forced 
to yield. Christian of Brunswick expired at Wolfenbiittel ; the Margrave of 
Baden had fled into Denmark ; Maurice of Hesse was reduced to submission 
by Tilly, and died, after abdicating in favour of his son. The opposition of 
the people also had been stifled in blood ; the peasants in Upper Austria and 
Branswick had fallen a prey to the soldiery, and an insurrection of the 
Bohemian peasantry was speedily quelled ; five hundred were slain, the rest 
branded and deprived of their noses. Wallen stein became the soul of the 
intrigues carried on in the camps and in the little courts of Northern Ger- 
many ; and had not the Catholics, like the Protestants at an earlier period, 
been blinded by pett^ jealousies, Euiope would have been moulded by his 
quick and comprehensive genius into another form.' * — M. Wallenstein 

is invested with the forfeited Duchy of Mecklenburg ; 1628 : 

he held Tomer ania alsOj and was created Generalissimo of the 

fleets in the Oceafi and the Baltic. ' He did not come forward as con- 
queror alone, but, by the investiture of Mecklenburg, as a ruling prince. 
The dominion of the Baltic, which he hoped to obtain through the Hanseatic 
towns, Avas to be directed against Denmark and Sweden, and who could say 
what were his ulterior projects ? The age was already accustomed to changes 
in the legal state of possession :— coronets had been already seized — why not 

crowns ? '—5-. if. The Upper Palatinate^ belonging to tlie 
unfortunate Frederic V., conferred on the Elector of Ba- 
varia. THE EDICT OF RESTITUTION published 

by the Emperor Ferdinand II., 1629, ' extorted from him by the 
Jesuits, who caused it to be enforced in the most odious manner.' — H. M. 
' The Emperor, undeterred by repeated warnings, abandoned his great gene- 
ral, and published, 1629, in the spirit of the League, the infamous edict 
enforcing the restitution of all ecclesiastical property confiscated since the 
treaty of Passau. By this edict the Protestant archbishoprics of Magdeburg 
and Bremen, eleven bishoprics, and numberless monastic lands were restored 
to the Catholics. This edict was executed with the greatest tj^ranny : the 
Catholic ritual was re-established in all the free Imperial cities ; the Emperor 
appropriating the greater part of the booty to his own family, and appoint- 
ing his son Leopold archbishop and bishop of Bremen, Magdeburg, Halber- 
stadt, Passau, Strasburg, as well as abbot of Hersfeld, and the whole of the 
confiscated monastic property, without distinction, falling to the Jesuits. 
Lay property shared a similar fate. Every nobleman who had served under 
Prederic of Bohemia, Mansfeld, or Brunswick, was deprived of his estates, 
and the Emperor's and the Leaguers' troops, under pretence of protecting 
the commissioners in the performance of their duties, were stationed in, and 
allowed to pillage the Protestant provinces.'! — Discontent and 

alarm both of the Lutheran and Catholic princes \ the effect 
of the edict in some degree checked by the apprehensions 
of the latter : Diet of Katisbon ; jealousy and dread of 
Wallenstein on the part of the Catholic princes, and their 

* Bead the very interesting ch. ccvi. p. 336 seqq. in Menzel, vol. ii. on 
Wallenstein and his projects. 

t For more read Menzel, vol. ii. ch. ccvi. p. 342, or Coxe, voL ii. ch. i» 
p. 818. 



74 THE THIRTY TEARs' WAR, CIRC. 1630. 



indignation at the excesses committed by his troops^* and 
suspicions of him, on the part of the Emperor, lead to the 

dismissal of W aUmstein ; 1630. ' The man to whom the Emperor 
owed all he possessed was dismissed.' — M. ' Ferdinand's high-handed pro- 
ceedings had already alarmed even the Catholic princes. Of his own authority 
he had put the Elector Palatine and other magnates to the ban of the Em^- 
pire : he had transferred an electoral vote to Bavaria ; had treated the 
districts overrun by his generals as spoil of war to be portioned out at his 
pleasure ; had unsettled all possession by requiring the restitution of Church 
property occupied since 1555. The Protestants were helpless : the Catholics, 
though they complained of the flagrant illegality of such conduct, did not 

dare to oppose it.'— ^r. During this time the War of the Suc- 
cession to the Buchj of 3Iantua,\ 1628-1629 ; to secure to 
the Imperial House its succession, to which Charles, Duke of 
Nevers, a French prince, laid claim : 30,000 Imperial troops 
force their way through the Grisons and the Valtelline^ 
spread terror throug-hout Italy, and take Mantua by storm, 

' committing the most horrid outrages in the city and its vicinity.' — M. 

Continuation of th e iS'eV^e o/'>S^m/sww J, tl)e tuvnmg p Clint in 

' The heroic defence of Stralsund decided the fate of Europe.' 

—M. G-ustavus Adolphus,;!: King of Sweden, ' the Lion of 
the North,^ nicknamed by the League ^the Snow-King,' 
enters into an alliance with Denmark, sends succour to the 
relief of Stralsund, and on June 24, 1630, lands with 16,000 
men at Usedom in Pomerania, and drives the Imperialists 
out of the country. Sweden at the liead of the Pro- 
testant Confederacy. Jfrtg^tfiil ^tatc of (§ermaitj5 at 

' Every province throughout unhappy G-ermany, ancient 
Bavaria and the Tyrol alone excepted, had been ravaged by fire, sword, and 
pillage, during the religious war. A dreadful famine, caused by the Mans- 
feld expedition, by the rapine of Wallenstein's soldiery, and by the pillage 
carried on by the Jesuits, raged in Silesia : the citizens and peasantry died 
by thousands of starvation, and many instances occurred of parents devour- 
ing their children, and of brethren destroying one another for the last 



* Read the fine ^ Reiterlied' in Schiller's WaUenstein's Lager, beginning 
* Wohl auf, Cameraden,' &c., for a graphic idea of what his troopers were. 
' It is supposed that in this part of the drama Schiller was assisted by 
Goethe.'—/. G. L. 

t On the Mantuan Succession, in case the student wishes for further 
information, read Ranke's Hi&t. of the Popes, bk. ii. Second Period, ch. v. 
from 1623-1628, p. 263 seqq., and p. 271 of Whittaker & Co.'s edition. 

% Read character of Gustavus Adolphus, from Prof. Smythe's Lectures, 
given in Appendix to this vol., and Archbp. Trench's charming Lecture, 
Gustavus Adolphus. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBUEG. 



75, 



mouthful of bread. This misery, fearful as it was, was, however, a mere 
prelude to the horrors that ensued. The arrival of the Swedish king was but 

the opening of the war.'— J/. Tilly, commander-in-cliief of tlie 
Imperial forces^ invests Magdeburg, Pappenheira also in 
command : the town is gallantly defended. Treaty heticem 
Siveden and the leading States of Upper Saxony and Willia^riy 
the Landgrave of Hesse • and treaty at Bdremvalde, 1631 ; 
brought about by the influence of Cardinal Eichelieu, the 
obj ect of whose foreign policy was to depress the Austrian 
family both in Spain and Germany,* hetioeen Gustavus and 

Louis XIII. ; ' who promised to pay him annually the sum of 400,000 

dollars, and to grant him aid, now rendered requisite by the lukewarmnesa 
of the Lutheran princes. Gustavus, deeply disgusted at their conduct, was 
alone withheld from abandoning his purpose, from returning to Sweden and 
coming to terms with the Emperor, by the consciousness that to him alone 
did Magdeburg and the people throughout Germany look for succour.' — M. 

Pappenheim and Conti, the Imperial generals, are unable to 
keep their ground before Gustavus : ' The imperial army, raised, 

as it had been, in Wallenstein's name, and personally devoted and pledged 
to him, was, without him, no longer what it had been : nothing was to be 
seen in it but indecision, vacillation, panic, and defeat. Gustavus drove it 
utterly out of the field, and took up a strong position on the Lower Oder.' — R. 
Surprise and sack of XVEa^debur^ (which Gustavus is prevented 
from relieving by the pusillanimity or obstinacy of the Elector of Saxony, 
M^hom no motive of religion or policy could induce to grant the king a pas- 
sage through his territory) Tilly and Fappenlieimx 1631. 'au 
the horrors ever exercised against a captured place were repeated and almost 
surpassed on this dreadful event, which, notwithstanding all the subsequent 
disorders and the lapse of time, is still fresh in the recollections of its inliabi- 
tants and of Germany. History has no terms, poetry no language, painting 
no colours, to depict all the horrors of the scene. In less than ten hours, 
the most rich, most flourishing, and most populous town of Germany was 
reduced to ashes : the cathedral, a single convent, and a few poor and 
miserable huts, were all that were left of its numerous buildings ; and 
scarcely more than a thousand souls, all that remained of 30,000 inhabit- 
ants.'!— C. Gustavus enters Prussia, makes himself master of, 

and garrisons, Berlin \ is joined by 18,000 Saxons, and fights 
and wins the battle of Iieipzig: (also called the battle of 
Breitenfeld) ; 1631, over Tilly and Pappenheim. « The battle 

of Leipzig was decisive for Gustavus Adolphus and his party, almost beyond 
expectation. The League fell asunder ; and in a short time he was master 



* ' This policy of Cardinal Bichelieu marks the transition from the Eeli- 
gious Wars after the Reformation to the political combinations of later 
times.' — /. G. L. 

t Read more in Coxe, vol. ii. ch. lii. p. 842, and Menzel, vol. ii. ch. ccvii. 
p, 348. There is also a graphic account of the sack of Magdeburg, witli 
narratives of eye-witnesses, in Historical Parallels, vol. ii. 



76 THE THIRTY YEARS WAR, CIRC. 1635. 



of the countries from the Baltic to Bavaria, and from the Rhine to Bohemia.* 

— ^. M. Gustavus rapidly adyances along the Maine, tlie 
Khine, and the Neckar ; takes Mayence and receives the sur- 
render of numerous other fortresses.* 'The Protestant forces 

poured alike over the countries of the Leaguers and the Imperialists : on the 
Rhine the Protestants of the remote North met the old champions of Catho- 
licism, the Spanish troops — their mingled skulls are to be seen at Oppenheim 
— all oppressed princes joined the King ; the exiled Palatine appeared in his 

camp.'— i2. The Saxons meanwhile conquer Bohemia ; defeat 
of Maximilian of Bavaria and Tilly at the battle of the Lech ; 
and death of Tilly 1632. Advance of Gustavus into Ba- 
varia -y takes Munich : Ferdinand 11., alarmed by the danger, 
and by the intrigues of France, of Maximilian of Bavaria, 
who had been corresponding traitorously with Eichelieu, 
and of the Pope Urban VIII., re-appoints Wallenstdn as 

Geiieralissimo^'\ 'who, the moment of danger passed, was again to be 
thrown aside and to be sacrificed to the Jesuitical party.' — M. Fresh and 

numerous army raised by Wallenstein : the war is carried 
on with frightful ferocity, ravage, and pillage by the Im- 
perialists^ the Swedish army kept under excellent disci- 
pline, but quarter often not given on either side : the 
Koyal and the Imperial armies face each other for three 
months at Niiremberg ) the Swedes suffering frightfully 
from famine, and Wallenstem's army from pestilence. The 
war transferred to Saxony : BSSPBRiLTE BATTILE OP 
UTTZEW ; victory and death of Gustavus ; 1632 : 
♦like Epaminondas, victorious after death.'— ^. Pappenheim also 

killed. Oxenstierna^ Gustavus's Minister, becomes Regent 
of Sweden, during the minority of Christina, daughter 
of Gustavus, and carries on the war, under the command 
of i^t ^mtxKli nmxtn Jj^ (§u^tabii^, viz. %txn\^Kxts cf 

* ' Had Gustavus advanced on Vienna at once, he might have taken that 
city.'—/. G. L. 

t The terms exacted by Wallenstein from the Emperor give some idea of 
the wonderful preponderance of his character. They were, briefly, thafc he 
should be sole commander-in-chief, and subjected to no interference from 
the Emperor ; that every conquest he made should be entirely at his own 
disposal ; that he should be at liberty to confiscate any property he pleased 
for the maintenance of his troops ; and that he should be rewarded with the 
grant of one of the hereditary provinces of Austria, as well as with that of 
some other province. See more in Coxe, vol. ii. ch. liv. p. 871 ; and read the 
preceding pp. 886 seqq, on the character and grandeur of Wallenstein. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 77 

WtiimVy ^avrty Wrangel, ants f^or^tnT^o^it. Treaty of 
Heilbtwm, between Sweden and the German Protestant 

princes J 1633. < The confederated princes, bribed by French, gold, 
promises, and grants, still carried on the war and remained true to Oxen- 
stiema, who, notwithstanding the opposition offered by France and Saxony, 
was elected head of the Confederacy in a convocation of the princes held at 

Heiibromi. — J/. The Saxons are driven out of Bohemia^ which 
Wallenstein occupies — horrible partisan warfare waged in 

Saxony and in Thuringia by Holk^ ' Wallenstein's infamous par- 
tisan,' and in Silesia by Wallenstein's officers^ Illo, Gortz, 

and Piccolomini, ' a venal Italian mercenary, the most depraved wretch 
that appeared on the scene during the war ; ' Wallenstein himself 

remains inactive in Bohemia. Assassination of Wallenstein ; 
1634; at the command of the Emperor, and the instigation 
of the Jesuits, on the charge, probable, if not proved, of 
treason in carrying on negotiations with France, Saxony, 

and Brandenburg. « Though the fail of Wallenstein was not sufficient 
to atone for treachery, if proved, it was for his equivocal character and im- 
prudence. His death probably saved Germany from a catastrophe.' * — H. M. 
* The extraordinary character of Wallenstein — the great general who could 
alone be opposed by Ferdinand to Gustavus — was sure to catch the fancy of 
a German dramatist like Schiller. f Here, for once, were realised all the 
darling images of the scene : mystery without any possible solution ; energy 
more than human ; magnificence without bounds ; distinguished capacity ; 
gloom, silence, and terror; injtiries and indignation; nothing ordinary, 
nothing rational ; and, at last, probably a conspiracy, and, at least, an di^^i^'s,- 

Qmoxion.'—Smijthe's Led. Wallenstein's assassins richly rewarded 
by the Emperor ; Ferdinand, son of the Emperor, and King 
of Bohemia and Hungary, afterwards Ferdinand III., made 
commander-in-chief, with Count Gallas under him ; various 
successes, accompanied with horrible atrocity, of the Im- 
perialists, storm and sack of Landshut ] dreadful state of all 
the provinces that were the theatre of war. 'The country 

swarmed with revolutionary peasant-bands, whom hunger had converted 
into robbers ; towns were burnt down and the whole of their inhabitants 
butchered ; to robbery and murder succeeded famine and pestilence ; and the 
advanced Croatian guard of the Imperialists committed the most horrid 

excesses.'-j/. Bernhard of Weimar defeated at the haUle of 
Kdrcllingen\ by the Imperialists : 1634. Frightful pillage and 

* Eead also some fine remarks on the cliaracter of Wallenstein in Prof, 
Gold'^-in Smith's Led. on Mod. Hist. lect. iii. p. 26. 

t ' This trilogy probably the finest effort of Schiller's genius.' — /. G.L. 

% ' This battle is one of the most obstinately contested that is recorded in 
history.' — /. G. L. 



78 THE THIRTY YEARs' WAR, CIRC. 1635. 

devastation of Bayaria; SuaLia, and the Palatinate and tlie 
shores of the Hhine as far as Coblentz. France commences 
to take an active share in the ivar, bribed by the surrender of 

Alsace, ' which Loeffler, the Swedish chancellor and the chief leader of the 
Confederation of Heilbronn, had contrived to secure to France, without 
Bernhard's assent, for which he was deprived of his office and banished by 

Oxenstierna.'— J/. §xKntt ^ttlwcti ^KX ^xH against ^patu 
antf ^0011 aft^r against ^Smperar. The Emperor con- 
cludes a separate peace at Fragile imth Saxony, the Elector of 
Saxony to retain Lusatia^ of which he had taken possession^ 
and the ecclesiastical lands, confiscated forty years previously 
(by the Edict of Eestitution), to remain in the hands of their 
possessors. Alliance between the Netherlands and France, 
brought about by Cardinal Richelieu, who supports the 
enemies of Austria and Spain, and subsidizes the Swedish 
army : invasion of France by the Spaniards, in alliance with 
the Imperialists under Gallas, John de Werth, &c. ; ravage 
of Picardy and Lorraine : they are driven out by Louis XIII. 
in person ; 1635. Success of the Swedes restored by the 
Victory of Wittstock under Baner over the Saxon army of 
the Imperialists ,• 1636. Frightful pillage of Saxony by the 
Swedes : the ravages of war, famine, and pestilence 
desolate the Empire DFATH OF THE EMFEROR 

FERDINAND II.* 1637. « During the year that the old Empe- 
ror closed his eyes that had so long gloated on blood, the misery that reigned 
throughout Germany had reached the highest pitch : the horrors of the long 
war, the destruction of the towns and villages by fire, the torture and mur- 
der of the citizens and peasantry by the soldiery, were accompanied by a 
famine, which depopulated whole districts : the land remained uncultivated, 
and a pestilence resulted from want, bad food, and the putridity of the air 
occasioned by heaps of unburied dead. The soldier, driven by necessity as 
well as by love of rapine, snatched the last morsel from the hands of the 
famishing wretches that remained. Whole provinces were so completely 
pillaged as to afford no sustenance to the troops, and men and children 
fought like wolves for a morsel of carrion. The historians of this period 
graphically describe this excess of misery. Ferdinand II., on his accession 
to the throne, found Austria Lutheran, thickly populated, and prosperous : 
he left her Catholic, depopulated, and impoverished. He found in Bohemia 
3,000,000 Hussites dwelling in flourishing cities and villages ; he left merely 
780,000 Catholic beggars. Silesia, happy and blooming, was laid desolate : 
most of her little cities and villages had been burnt to the ground, her in- 
habitants put to the sword. Saxony, the Mere, and Pomerania had shared 



* Read the character ^)f .I'erdinand II. in Coxe, vol. ii. ch. Ivi. p. 297 segq-. 
of Bohn's edit. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBOEG. 



79 



the same melancholy fate. Mecklenburg and the whole of Lower Saxony 
had been ruined by battles, sieges, and invasions. Hesse lay utterly waste. 
In the Pfalz the living fed upon the dead, mothers on their babes, brethren 
on each other. In the Netherlands, Liege, Luxembourg, Lorraine, similar 
scenes of horror were of frequent occurrence. The whole of the Rhenish 
provinces lay desert. Suabia and Bavaria were almost entirely depopulated. 
The Tyrol and Switzerland had escaped the horrors of war, but were ravaged 
by pestilence. Such was the aspect of Europe on the death of Ferdinand IL, 
who, like an aged hyena, expired amidst mouldering bones and ruins.'— if, 

Ferdinand HE., son of Ferdinand ZI., £lmperor| 

1637. King of Bohemia and Hungary. ' Aman of insigiiificant 

character.' — M. ' The death of a bigoted Emperor, and the accession of a 
tolerant prince, gave hopes that peace would be speedily restored to G-ermany. 
But after so long and dreadful a contest it was no easy task to re-establish 
tranquillity; and the new monarch, unable to obtain any terms of peace, 
but such as would have dishonoured the memory of his father, injured the 
interests of his house, and endangered the Catholic cause, was compelled t® 
continue a contest entailed on him with his inheritance, and of which he 

had seen and deplored the fatal effects.' — c. Successes of the Im- 
perialists under Grallas against the Swedes under Wrangel 
in Pomerania j fruitless attempt of Prince Charles Louis 
and Prince Rupert, sons of the unfortunate Elector Palatine 
(afterwards King of Bohemia), to regain their lost inherit- 
ance : they are defeated by Hatzfeld, the Imperialist gene- 
ral, near Minden j 1638. Successes of Bernhard of Weimar 
over the Imperialists in Alsace; he defeats and captures 
Savelli and John de Werth at Rheinfelden, and takes Brisac 
after a most obstinate defence : successes of Baner, who re- 
covers Pomerania, and overruns and devastates Saxony and 
Bavaria; he defeats and captures the Imperialist generals 
Montecuculi and Hofkirch at Brandeiss (in Bohemia) ; 1639 ; 

' and, like another Tilly, spreads devastation from the frontiers of Saxony to 
the frontiers of Moravia. ' — C. ' After overrunning Bohemia as far as Prague^ 
where he encamped on the Weissen Berg, Baner, disappointed in his hope of 
finding some Hussites still in Bohemia, quitted that wretched country, which 
presented a complete scene of desolation, leaving his retreating footsteps 

marked with fire and blood.'— J/. Death of Bernhard of Weimar 

perhaps by poison, 1639. ' " Germany," wrote Hugo Grotius, " was 
in this prince deprived of her greatest ornament and of her last hope— of 
almost the only one worthy the name of a German prince." ' — M. ' His 
death, in the thirty-fifth year of his age, terminated his brilliant career, 
delivering the house of Austria from the most dangerous of its enemies, and 
depriving the Swedes of their most active and skilful supporter.' — C. The 

army of Bernhard is induced by Cardinal Eichelieu to take 
service with Prance; which thereby regains the whole of 



80 



THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. CIRC. 1640. 



Alsace. Guebriant appointed general of Bernliard's army. 
Death of Baner ; 1641. A diet is assembled at Ratishon to 
deliberate on tbe means of restoring peace^ and the prelimi- 
7iaries of Peace signed at Hamburg by tbe ambassadors of 
tbe leading powers ; 1641. Deatb of Cardinal Eicbelieu ; 
he is succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin. The war continued. 
Victory o/the armies of Weimar and Baner^ now commanded 
by Guebriant and Wrangel, over the Imperialists under 
Piccolomini at Wolfenbuttelj successes of Piccolomini on 
the separation of the two armies : he drives the Swedes into 
Saxony and clears Lusatia and Silesia. Torstensohn joins 
the confederate armies with a reinforcement of 8^000 Swedes, 
and defeats the Imperialists under the Archduke Leopold 

and Piccolomini near Leipzig^ ' twice already the scene of their dis- 
comfiture, and now for a third time of their total defeat ; ' 1642. ' The two 
armies encountered in the plain of Bi'eitenfeld, on the very spot where Gus- 
tavus gained the memorable victory of Leipsig, which opened to him the 
centre of Germany. The place and the occasion, with all its concomitant 
circumstances, called forth the emulation and bravery of the contending 
hosts. The Imperialists were flushed with hope derived from recent success, 
and panted to vindicate their fame on the very ground vv^hich had witnessed 
their former disgrace. The Swedes, driven to desperation, were stimulated 
by every consideration of safety and honour to emulate the heroic deeds of 
those over whose graves they were contending. The battle was fought with 
all the fury inspired by these motives ; and after a long and bloody conflict 
the Imperialists were totally routed, with the loss of 10,000 killed and 

prisoners.'— c. Invasion and conquest of Holstein and Jutland by 
the Swedes under Torstensohn, who compels Christian IV., 
King of Denmark, to give up the cause of the Emperor, with 
whom he had entered into a secret alliance j another Swedish 
army under Horn at the same time invading the country ; 
1644. Gallas, the Imperialist commander-in-chief (Picco- 
lomini having entered the service of Spain), endeavours 
with the assistance of a Danish army to cut off Torstensohn 
in Jutland, but he evades their pursuit and re-enters Ger- 
many : the French army (in alliance with Sweden) defeated, 
under Guebriant, by the Bavarian Imperialist generals 
Mercy, Hatzfeld, and John von Werth, at Duttlingen in Ba- 
varia ; 1644. Defeat of the French again under the Due 
d'Enghien (afterwards know as the great Conde), and of 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



81 



Turenne by Mercy at Freiburg in Suabia; 1644. Victory of 
Torstensolin over Gallas at JUterhok (in Prussia), and of Tor- 
stensohn and Horn over Hatzfeld and Montecuculi at tlie 
great and decisive hattle of Janhovitz in Bohemia ; 1645. 
^^gattaton^ far Peace nxt iKXxitU on at C^sfnabritc^ 
mxts :S^ixi\iitv ; 1645. Moravia submits to tbe Swedes, 
wuo advance into Austria and alarm Vienna : threatenimj 
condition of the Imperialist cause : defection of the Elector 
of Saxony and of the Danes from the Imperialist side, 
and shortly afterwards of Maximilian of Bavaria^ the bro- 
ther of the Emperor j 1645. ' During the three years that the 
negotiations for peace opened in the Congress of MUnster and Osuabrlick 
dragged on, the South of Grermany, and especially Bavaria, was forced, 
by the repeated invasions of the French and Swedes, to drain the cup of 

misery to the very dregs.'— ZT. M, Peace concluded between Ba- 
varia and France; 1646. John von Werth attempts to 
desert with the Bavarian troops to the Emperor, but is 
deserted by all his forces, and narrowly escapes Wallenstein's 
fate. Wrangel succeeds Torstensohn in the command, and 
with Turenne desolates Suabia, Franconia^ and Darmstadt. 
Melander appointed G eneralissimo of the Imperial forces ; 
the other Imperialist generals at this period were Montecu- 
culi, John von Werth, CoUoredo, Lamberg, and the Arch- 
duke. The Emperor Ferdinand III. takes the field in 
person ; Maximilian of Bavaria again j oins the Imperialist 
cause; 1647. Retreat of Wrangel from Bohemia before 
the united forces of Melander and Gronsfeld in order to 
effect a junction with Konigsmark and the French army 
under Turenne. 

Election at this period of JF^r^Jtuatitf S^,, 1647, son of 
Ferdinand III., as successor in the Empire, and coronation in 

the lifetime of his father. ' During these events the Emperor availed 
himself of the temporary expulsion of the Swedes from Bohemia to declare his 
son Ferdinand successor to the crown, and readily obtained the confirmation 
of the States. He also conciliated the Protestants of B. angary by removing 
the restrictions laid upon their worship, and restraining, by the strictest 
penalties, the insults or persecutions of the zealous Catholics. By these pru- 
dent concessions, he secured the election of the young prince, who was 
crowned at Presburg, in opposition to all the intrigues of Eacoczi, who had 
formed a league with Sweden and invaded Hungary, and had declared him* 



82 THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR, CIRC. 1647. 



self independent of both the Porte and the Emperor,' — C. Fresll inva.- 

sion and ravage of Suabia by Wrangel and Turenne ; tbey 
defeat tbe Imperialists under Melander and Gronsfeld at the 
battle of Zusmarshausen, on the borders of Bavaria ; 1648, 

Melander killed. ' The total ruin of the army was only prevented by the 
skill of Montecuculi, and the courage of Ulric, Duke of Wlirtemberg-, who 
with a part of the cavalry covered the retreat.'— C. ' The victors spread, 
robbing and murdering, over Bavaria, and Kbningsniark was sent to invade 

Bohemia.'— if. Piccolomini recalled and made Generalissimo 
of the Imperialist forces ; John von Werth in command of 
the cavalry : Piccolomini drives the confederates beyond the 
Danube : defeat meanwhile of the Imperialists under Lam- 
berg by Geis at Grevenhurg^ in Hesse, and of the Archduke 
by the French under the Due d'Enghien^ at Lens^ in the 
Netherlands \ 1648. Surprise and capture of part * of the 
city of Fragile^ with the citadel and an immense booty^ 

by Konigsmark ; 1648. « An event by which peace was not a little 
accelerated.' — H. M. ' An enterprise, equally brilliant and decisive, was the 
surprise of Prague by Kbningsmark, who in the preceding campaign had 
given various proofs of his talents for desultory warfare.' Gallant de- 
fence of the other part of the city by the citizens under 
CoUoredo and Conti against the desperate attacks of the 
Swedes^ reinforced by the arrival of the Swedish general 
Wirtemberg and Prince Charles Gustavus^ Duke of Deux- 
Ponts, and nephew of Gustavus Adolphus. ' This was the last 

event of this memorable, long, and bloody war ; for on the following day, 
October 25, 1648, the inhabitants of Prague received the joyful intelligence 
of the signature of the armistice, which soon after gave peace to Germany.' 
— C. ' Peace was, at thiA conjuncture, proclaimed throughout the Empire 
to all the armies, to all the besieged cities, to the trembling princes, to the 
wailing people, and to the wild soldiery roused to fury at the news.' — M. 

End of tlie TMrty ITears' War ? PBil.€E OF 

WlSSTPHiLXiSA ; THB FOU]^BiiTS0]^ OP THE 

SITBSEQUEXUT POZilClT 01< EUROPE ; 16€:3. Signed 

at Osnabriiek^ August 6^ and at Miinster^ September 8. 

* Miinster was the place of negotiation for the Empire, Spain, Prance, and 

* The Neustadt (new town), also called 'the Little Town,' and now, as 
every one who has had the good fortune to visit that most picturesque city, 
will remember, generally called 'Die kleine Seite,' on the right bank of the 
Moldau ; as distinguished from the Altstadt, ' the Old Town,' on the left 
bank. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



83 



the Catholics, under the mediation of the Pope ; Osnabrlick for the Empire, 
Sweden, and the Protestants, mider the mediation of the King of Denmark ; 
and all the princes of Germany, as allies of France and Sweden, were to be 
admitted. The two congresses were considered as one, and a free communi- 
cation was maintained between the two towns, which were left under the 
guard of their own magistrates and burghers, and freed fTom their allegiance 
to the Emperor and Empire.' — G. 

DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF THE THIRTY 

YEARS' WAR. ' Germany is reckoned by some to have lost one- 
half, by others, two-thirds of her entire population diuring the Thirty Years' 
War. In Saxony, 900,000 men had fallen within two years ; in Bohemia, the 
number of inhabitants at the demise of Ferdinand 11. , before the last deplor- 
able inroads made by Baner and Torstensohn, had sunk to one-fourth. 
Augsburg, instead of 80,000, had 18,000 inhabitants. Every province, every 
town throughout the Empire, had suffered at an equal ratio, with the excep- 
tion of the Tyrol, which had repulsed the enemy from her frontiers and had 
enjoyed the deepest peace during the period of horror. The country was 
completely impoverished. The working class had almost entirely disappeared. 
The manufactories had been destroyed by fire ; industry and commerce had 
passed into other hands. The products of Upper Germany were far inferior 
to those of Italy and Switzerland ; those of Lower Germany to those of 
Holland and England. Immense provinces, once flourishing and populous^ 
lay entirely waste and iminhabited, and were only by slow degrees re-peopled 
by foreign emigrants or by soldiery.'— il/. ' The able biographer of Wallen- 
stein pauses at the close of his labours to recount how, in the wars of which 
his hero was the guiding spirit, Germany, out of 16,000,000 of inhabitants, 
actually lost 12,000,000. In the duchy of Wiirtemberg, 70,000 hearth fires 
were extinguished ; in Hesse, seventeen towns, fortj'-seven castles, and 300 
villages were burned ; and at Gbttingen and Xordheim manj^ hundred 
houses, for which tenants could no longer be discovered, were pulled do"v\Ti 
for fuel. Peaceful peasants were hunted for mere sport like beasts of the 
forest ; citizens were nailed up against doors and walls and fired at lilce tar» 
gets, whilst horsemen and Croats tried then- skill in striking off the heads of 
young children at a blow.' * — T. iV. 

^acficctiouj^ fill ^^t clause in i\}t c^acocttr of t^e 

K^ixt^ ©Car^^ ©Har. 'During three generations religion had been 
the mainspring of politics. The revolutions and civil wars of France, Scot- 
land, Holland, Sweden, the long struggle between Philip and Elizabeth, the 
bloody competition for the Bohemian crown, had all originated in theologi- 
cal disputes. But a great change now took place. The contest which was 
raging in Germany lost its religious character. It was now, on one side, less 
a contest for the spiritual ascendency of the Church of Rome than for the 
temporal ascendency of the house of Austria. On the other side, it was less 
a contest for the reformed doctrines than for national independence. Go- 
vernments began to form themselves into new combinations, in which com- 
munity of political interest was far more regarded than community of reli- 
gious belief. Even at Rome the progress of the Catholic arms was observed 
with mixed feelings. The Supreme Pontiff was a sovereign prince of the 
second rank, and was anxious about the balance of power as well as about 
the propagation of truth. It was known that he dreaded the rise of an uni- 
versal monarchy even more than he desired the prosperity of the Universal 
Church. At length, a great event announced to the world that the war of 



* For more, read Archbishop Trench'^s Gmtavus AdolpJius, from which 
extract is given in the Appendix to this work. 

G 2 



84 



THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA, 1648. 



sects had ceased, and that the war of States had succeeded. A coalition, 
including Calvinists, Lutherans, and Catholics, was formed against the House 
of Austria. At the head of that coalition were the first statesman and the 
first warrior of the age ; the former a prince of the Catholic Church, distin- 
guished by the vigour and success with which he had put down the Hugue- 
nots ; the latter a Protestant king, who owed his throne to a revolution 
caused by hatred of Popery. 

'The alliance of Richelieu and Gustavus marks the time at which the 
great religious struggle terminated. The war which followed was a war for 
the equilibrium of Europe. When, at length, the Peace of Westphalia was 
concluded, it appeared that the Church of Rome remained in full possession 
of a vast dominion which in the middle of the preceding century she seemed 
to be on the point of losing. No part of Europe remained Protestant, except 
that part which had become thoroughly Protestant before the generation 
which had heard Luther preach had passed away. Since that time there has 
been no religious war between the Catholics and Protestants as such.' — 
Mac. Essays. 

The principal articles of the Peace of West- 
phalia,'^ were^ the establishment of a perfect equality of 
privileges to all religious sects alike ; in other words^ the 
free exercise of their religion was permitted to all forms of 

Protestantism. « The Treaty of Passau and the Religious Peace of Augs- 
burg were not only confirmed, but also expressly extended to the reformed 

party.'— iT. J/, and c. The Imperial chamber to be composed of 
equal numbers of Catholics and Protestants; the Church 
lands and benefices to remain in or to be restored to the 
same state that they were in on January 1, 1624^ hence 
called the ^ annus normalis ; ' the ' Resmatum Ecclesiasticum ' 

to be held valid for the future. ' The article of the Ecclesiastical 
Reservation was recapitulated almost in the same words as in the Peace of 
Religion ; but instead of being confirmed to the Catholics, was extended to 
the members of the Confession of Augsburg, by the stipulation, that, if an 
incumbent of an ecclesiastical oflBce, whether Catholic or Protestant, should 
change his religion, he should be considered as having vacated his oflace, and 
another person of the same religion be appointed in his place.' — C. The 

foreign powers^ viz. France and Sweden, that had carried 
on the war, as well as single States of the Empire, viz. the 
German princes of Brandenburg, Brunswick-Liineburg, 
Mecklenburg, Hesse-Cassel, were indemnified for their ex- 
penses and losses in the war; and all other princes and 
States of the Empire who had been sufferers in the war 



* For a full account of these, read Coxe, vol. ii. ch. lix. p. 333 seqq., Bohn's 
edit., and Menzel, vol. ii. ch. ccxi. p. 395 seqq. ; read also the very excellent 
remarks on the Peace of Westphalia in Bryce's Essay, p. 138, quoted in the 
Appendix. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBUEG, CIRC. 1650. 85 

were restored to tlie possessions and rights enjoyed before 

1619. ' France acquired Alsace, Brisac, and the bishoprics of Toul, Metz, 
and Verdun, and tlie city of Pignerol ; Sweden gained Upper Pomerania, 
with the Isle of Riigen, and part of Lower Pomerania, with Stettin, Wismar, 
and other places, the whole to be held as a fief of the Empire, accompanied 
with a payment to the Swedish army of 5,000,000 of rix dollars ; Branden- 
burg gained the secularised bishoprics of Magdeburg, Halberstadt, Minden, 
and Camin, under the title of principalities ; Mecklenburg received the 
secularised bishoprics of Schwerin and Ratzburg ; Hesse-Cassel the princely 
abbey of Hirschfeld as a secular domain ; Brunswick-Llineburg the monastic 
lands of the convents of G-roningen and Walkenried, with the alternate suc- 
cession to the bishopric of Osnaburg. Besides the above States, the Electorate 
of Saxony retained what it had acquired in the Peace of Prague ; and the 
Lower Palatinate, or Rhenish Pfalz, with the electoral dignity, was restored 
to Charles Louis, son of the unfortunate Elector Palatine, with all his pater- 
nal possessions, except the Upper Palatinate and the county of Cham, which 
were confirmed to Bavaria, in whose favour an eighth electorate, with the 
office of great treasurer, was established.'— -fT. M. M. and C. Tlie Re- 
public of Switzerland and tbe Dutch Kepublic of the United 
Netherlands were recognised and declared independent of 

the Empire j ' the war of the Spanish Netherlands being also terminated 
at this Peace, and the right of trade and colonisation being secured to the 
Dutch by a separate treaty with Spain.' — 0. C. T. Xhe rights of sove- 
reignty in their own territories^ as well as their rights in the 
diets^ were secured to all the States in the Empire. 'By this 

Peace the German body politic obtained its determinate forms, soon after 
more firmly established by the permanent Diet of Ratisbon. The Imperial 
power was now constitutionally restricted within the narrowest limits ; the 
princes were, in the fullest sense, rulers of their respective States ; the wel- 
fare of G-ermany was attached to the territorial government, and but little 
to the Imperial. It became a federation under a limited sovereign : the pro- 
visions, at least, enacted, guaranteed the tranquil existence of the weak by the 
side of the strong.'— H. M. 

The principal results of the Peace of Westphalia, 
' an era in Imperial History not less clearly marked 
than the coronation of Otho the Great or the death 
of Frederic 11/ (Br.) were^ briefly : 1. The equality es- 
tablished between the two great bodies of Catholics and 
Protestants. 2. The severance thereby of the close tie that 
had hitherto united the Empire with the Church of Rome ; 

* both Lutherans and Calvinists, now the Evangelical Church of G-ermany, 
being declared free from the jurisdiction of the Pope or any Catholic prelate.' 

—Br. 3, The transference of all real power within the Em- 
pire from the Emperor to the Princes and Electors of the 
several States, who became virtually independent sovereigna 



'86 



THE PEACE OF \YESTPHAL1A, CIRC. 1648. 



in their own territories, possessing tlie right of concluding 
alliances with foreign powers, making war or peace, and 
framing their own laws, as well as the right of suffrage in the 
Diet in all deliberations on the affairs of the Empire j * thus 
creating a number of independent petty States whose sove- 
reigns were absolute in their own dominions. ' as Emperor, 

Ferdinand saw himself stripped of a great part of tliat anthority whicli tie 
derived from prerogative or prescription, and reduced to admit to a share of 
sovereign power and dignity the States whom preceding Emperors had 

treated as vassals.'— a 4, The great loss of territory and pre- 
ponderance in Europe sustained by the Empire as a whole. 

' The Emperor's title of " Angmenterof the Empire" had become a mockery 
or empty sound. The Swiss and Dutch had asserted their independence ; 
part of Lorraine and Alsace had been ceded to Prance, part of Lower Saxony 
to Denmark, Pomerania to Sweden, the Netherlands to Spain. Internally, 
the Empire was torn, and hung but loosely together ; her constitittion was a 
monstnim reijuiblicce.' — 21. ' The real gainers by the treaties of Westphalia 
were those who had borne the brunt of the battle against Ferdinand II. and 
his son, viz. France and Sweden.' 5. The great weight and power 

exerted after this period by France and Erench influence in 
Em-ope, in contradistinction to the increasing weakness and 
stagnation of Germany ; and the origin from this time of the 
doctrine of the Balance of Power, the grand object^ hence- 
forth, of the policy of all States. 

Crcati) jirotcstcU against iii tl)t i^npe, Innocent 

X. ' The Pope naturally made a violent protest against the secularisation 
of Church property,'— J/. ' The Peace of Westphalia was regarded by Pope 
Innocent X. as an abrogation of the sovereignty of Eome and of the theory 
of Church and State with which the name of Eome was associated. He 
therefore commanded his legate to protest against it, and stibsequently de- 
clared it void by the buU " Zelo domus Dei." ' — Br. 

THIS HOIilf ^OmiLN EBSPIRi: FROM THIS 
P1:RI0B, 16^3, I.ITTI.S IVXORE THA^ A IVZSRIS 

WAMB ! henceforth it is a frtfcrattxfn ttntfn: a limttctf 

* Henceforth it is, in everything but title, purely and solely 
a G-erman Empire. Properly, indeed, it was no longer an Empire at all, 
but a Confederation, and that of the loosest kind. For it had no common 
treasury, no efficient common tribimals, no means of coercing a refractory 
member : its States were of different religions, were governed according to 
different forms, were administered judicially and financially without any 



* Eead the excellent remarks on this point in the extract from Bryce's 
Essau, given in the Appendix, to which I beg to acknowledge my obligations. 
Read also Coxe, vol. ii. ch. lix. p. 337, Bohn"s edit. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CinC. 1650. 



87 



regard to each other, . . . Properly speaking:, the Empire has no history 
after this ; and the historj' of the particular States of Germany which take 
its place is one of *he dreariest chapters in the annals of mankind. It would 
be hard to find, from the Peace of Westphalia to the French Eevolution, a 
single grand character or a single noble enterprise, a single sacrifice made to 
public interests, a single instance in which the welfare of nations was pre- 
ferred to the selfish "passions of their princes. . . . The history of the 
Empire for a century and a half is a dismal list of losses and disgraces. . . . 
The' chief external danger was from French influence, for a time supreme, 
always menacing.' — Br. 

During the above period, after the Peace of Prague, 1635, 
between the Emperor and the Electors of Saxony and of 
Brandenburg, |3ru^Sta, under its Elector, Frederic William,* 
generally known as the Great Elector, continually gatiT^ 
p0tDa: anSj im^mtKXltt *y obtaining Lower Pomerania, Mag- 
deburg, and other towns from the Empire, and throwing off 
its subjection to Poland. It does not, however, become a 
kingdom till 1701, when the Elector Frederic III. was 
acknowledged as King by the Emperor Leopold L, and 
crowned under the title of Frederic L, King of Prussia. 

BRIEF SUMMAEY OF THE PPIXCIPAL 
EYEXTS DURING THE PERIOD OF S03IEWHAT 
MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY SUBSEQUENT 
TO THE PEACE OF WESTPHALIA ; GENERALLY 
CALLED THE AGE OF LOUIS XIY. FROM 1648 
TO ABOL^ 1715. 

Zieopold Z., son of Ferdinand III., Bmperor ; 1657. 
During his reign, continued wars, insurrections, and troubles 
in Hungary : long civil war, and war with Turkey : in the 
course of which Austria is invaded by an immense Turkish 
army under the Grand Yizier, Mustapha Kara, j: and Vienna 
besieged; 1683. The Emperor flies from the city: it is 
bravely defended for two months by Rtidiger, Count of 

* Read Menzel, vol. ii. ch. ccxxir. p. 481 seqq. 

t Read, on ' The Great Elector,' Menzel. vol. ii. ch. ccxxiv. pp. 481-487. 

X The invasion of Austria and siege of Vienna were undertaken by the 
Sultan at the earnest instance of Louis XIV., who at the same time invadefl 
the western frontier of the Empire in i:erson. The Museum at Vienna is 
full of interesting Turkish trophies, flags, arms, &o. &c., taken from their 
defeated army and abandoned camp. Amongst other things is the grim 
bead of the Vizier himself. 



88 



TURKISH WARS, CIRC. 1680. 



Stalirember^. * The formidable Turkisli wars, the school of courage for 
the Grermans, rendered the sons of the princes Generals, and likewise created 
a common point of union for the Emperor and the States.'—^. M. '^^t 

^it%t 0f ^mnm ratotr and great U^feat nf t^e CurlfeiS 
30^11 King of Poland; and Charles, Duke of 

Lorraine, at the head of an army of Poles and Germans. 

' The danger from the Turks was never so threatening to Germany as during 
this period, when it seemed inevitable that the fate of Yienna would decide 
that of the Empire. The contests respecting Transylvania, and the tyranny 
of the Austrians in Hungary, did not leave the Turks without adherents ; 
and though in regular battles they had to bend to German tactics, there were 
found some leaders who understood what might be effected by great masses 
of light troops, animated by national pride and religious hatred.'— iT. M, 

Great victory of Mohacz over the Turks, 1687 ; they are 

expelled from Hungary ; vidmy of the Prince of Baden over 

the Turks at Nissa, 1689, and at Szalankemen, 1691 ; and 

defeat of Svltan Mustapha by Prince Eugene at Zetita^ 1696. 

Teace of Carloivitz with the Turks, 1699. < in the battle of Zenta 
Prince Eugene of Savoy, whom Louis XIY. had, by personal ridicule, ren- 
dered his most implacable foe, entirely broke the power of the Turks : he 
afterwards took Belgrade, and, by the Peace of Carlowitz, confirmed Austria 
in the possession of the whole of Hungary.' — M. 

Establishment of a permanent Diet of the Empire at 

Eatisbon, 1663 (it lasts till 1806). * The Diet now sat perpetually, 
and instead of being visited by tlie Emperor in person , and bj' the great body 
of the nobles, it consisted of a congroFS of deputies.' — P. ' iieanv/hile the 
general German and Imperial courts of justice fell, like the local aiKl ]?iivate 
courts, into disuse, and were replaced by the provincial courts of the different 
principalities.' f — M. 

The Tyrol united to Austria^ 1665. * The Tyrol and all the 

exterior provinces escheated to the Emperor by the death of hi-? cousin Sigis- 
mund Francis, 1665, the last representative of the collateral branch without 
if^sue. Although these important territories could before be scarcely con- 
sidered as a distinct sovereignty, because the princes had always been sub- 
servient to the head of their House, yet this fortunate reunion, at the same 
time that it brought an accession of revenue and military force, prevented a 
ren ewal of those feuds which had formerly weakened the Austrian family. ' — C. 

The miserable state of Hungary, devastated by the Turkish 
war, and a conspiracy, real or pretended, of the insurgent 
nobles, punished with merciless severity at the ^bloody 



* Read Menzel, vol. ii. ch. ccxxvi. p. 492 seqq.^ and Coxe, vol. ii. ch. Ixvi. 
p. 445 sfiqq., Bohn's edit. 

t Read the ch. entitled ' The Empire — the Princes and the Nobility,' in 
Menzel, vol. ii. p. 410 seqq. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CIRC. 1670. 89 



theatre of Eperies/* enables the Emperor Leopold to abro- 
gate the ancient constitution of Hungary and to complete 
bis long-meditated design of rendering the croivn of Hun- 
gary hereditary : 3>iet of Pressburg' convened, 1667, and 
Joseph, son of the Emperor, afterwards Joseph I., crowned 
King, and Hungrary, hitherto an electoral kingdom, forcibly 
converted into an hereditary monarcby, and settled 
on the male line of the House of Austria. f 

During the same time, owing to the ambition of Louis 
XrV. of France and his inyasion of Holland, xmr begins 
hetween Austria, under the Emperor Leopold J., and France, 
League between the Emperor Leopold I., Frederic William, 
Elector of Brandenburg, and the Dutch, against France ; 
1672. Devastation of the Palatinate by Turenne j tlie 

Empire joins in the war ; 1674. * The aggressions of Louis, 
tlie devastations of the Palatinate by the French troops under Turenne, the 
occupation of Treves and Lorraine, the seizure of the ten Imperial towns in 
Alsace, a long series of arrogant declarations and unprovoked aggressions, 
all gave weight to the representations of the Emperor, and the whole Diet 
concurred in a declaration of war against France.'— C. Dattles On the 

Khine between Turenne and Montecuculi ; Peace of Nime- 

guen ; 1679. Kecommencement of the war : loss of Stras- 

burg and a large part of Alsace to France ; fresh devastation 

of the Palatinate by the French \ burning of the cities of 

Worms, Spires, Oberwesel, Andernach, and many others, by 

the French; frightful destruction and depredations of the 

French. < The towns were reduced to ashes ; the inhabitants murdered or 
dragged into France, and compelled to recant. Li Spires the Imperial vaults 
were broken open, and the remains of the Emperors desecrated.' — M. ' Pro- 
digal as was the waste of treasure in the wars of Louis with the other powers 
of Europe, history has a far darker tale, of the utter ruin and desolation, 
by the armies of Louis, of the defenceless cities of "Worms, Spires, and Op- 
penheim, of aU the territories of Treves and Baden, and of all the towns, 
villages, and hamlets of the Palatinate, and of the unarmed inhabitants of 



* ' To execute the sentences of the tribunal instituted at Eperies by Ca- 
raffa, whose cruelties find a parallel in the proscriptions of Marius and 
Sylla, or the massacres of Tiberius, thirty executioners found constant em- 
plojTnent ; and a scaffold erected in the midst of the town is commemorated 
in history by the expressive appellation of the Bloody Theatre of Eperies.* 
— Coxe, vol. ii. ch. Ixvi. p. 451. 

t Read two very interesting articles in * The Times,' referred to below, in 
p. 167, note. 



«0 



THE KIKODOM OF PRUSSIA, CIKC. 1700. 



those once smiling regions— crimes which, as they were wantonly perpetrated 
in cold blood, and by one Christian and civilised people upon another, threw 
into the shade the worst ravages of Attila and G-enseric, and almost chal- 
lenged a comparison with the atrocities of the day of St. Bartholomew.' 

Sir James Stephen, vol. ii. p. 435. Gallant elFoi'ts of William, 
Prince of Orange^ and of tlie Imperial generals Louis, IMar- 
grave of Baden^ and of George, Landgrave of Hesse Darm- 
stadt. I^isgraceful Peace of ^yswick, 1697, ' by which 
Louis XrV., besides Lorraine, the Pfalz, Breisach, Freiburg, and Philipps- 
burg, retained all his conquests— among others, Strasburg.' * ' Louis XIY. 
was, before the end of his life, an object of intense hatred, and officially 
entitled " Hereditary Enemy of the Holy Empire." France had nevertheless 
a strong party among the princes always at her beck. The Ehenish and 
Bavarian Electors were her favourite tools. The " reunion," begun in a.d. 
1680, a discreet euphemism for robbery in time of peace, added Strasburg 
and other places in Alsace, Lorraine, and Franche Comte to the monarchy of 
Louis and brought him nearer the heart of the Empire, and his ambition and 
cruelty were witnessed to by repeated wars and the devastation of the Rhine 
countries.' — Br. 

CHASJ^U OF THE BUCHY OP PRUSSIA under 
Frederic 111., Elector of Brandenburg, son of ^ the Great 
Elector,' ESTTO A KIIWCS-BOIVT, and recognition of Fre- 
deric 111. as KIM-G- OF PRUSSIA, under tlie title of 

FRBBERSC 1. of Prussia j f 1701. ' The election of "William 
of Orange to the throne of England, and of Augustus of Saxony to that of 
Poland, roused Frederic's jealousy, and the transformation of the Duchy of 
Prussia, then no longer a Polish fief, into a kingdom, was resolved upon, and 
its recognition was effected by means of 6,000,000 dollars. The Jesuits at 
Vienna received 200,000. They treated the petty kingdom with ridicule ; but 
Prince Eugene, who foresaw that the successors of this new monarch would 
increase in power and arrogance, said, " Those ministers by whom the King 
of Prussia has been recognised deserve to be hanged." The Pope also strongly 
protested against the weak concession made by the Emperor.' — M. 

[Career during this period of Charles XII. of Sweden, 
1697-1718, and his wars against Denmark, Poland, and 
Hussia.] 

Commencement of the troubles concerning the succession to 

the Spanish Crown. ' Charles II. , son of Philip IV. , last male descendant 
of the Austro-Spanish branch, having neither son, nor daughter, nor brother, 
the succession devolved, either, through Maria Theresa, his eldest sister, wife 
of Louis XIV., on Philip, Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin; or, 
through Margaret Theresa, the younger sister, on Joseph Ferdinand, Elec- 
toral Prince of Bavaria, her grandson ; or, through Maria Anne, daughter of 



^ For more read Coxe, vol. ii. ch. Ixv. p. 432 seqq. 

t See above, under the year 1635 ; and read Menzel, vol. ii. ch. ccxxviii. 
p. 506. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CIRC. 1701-1714. 91 



Philip III, of Spain and mother to the Emperor Leopold I., to his son, the 
Archduke Charles of A-ustria.' — K. 

"WAR of the Spanisli Succession,* 1701 - 1714. 
(§ranU Alliance nf i\^t igague between Austria^ Holland, 
and England, joined in 1702 by Prussia and by the Empire, 
and in 1703 by Portugal and Savoy, to place the xlrchduke 
Charles on the Spanish throne, and prevent the union of 
Spain and France. Allies of France, Bavaria, under Maxi- 
milian II., the Elector ; Cologne, under the Elector of 
Cologne (brother to Maximilian 11. of Bavaria) ) Mantua ; 
and till 1703 Portugal and Savoy. [The boast of Louis 
XIV., ^il n'y a plus de Pyrenees.'] Successful intrigues of 
Louis XIV. at Madrid : first and second partition treaties ) 
death of Charles II. of Spain, and proclamation of Philip, 
Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., as Philip V. at 
Madrid. 

The War is waged zn" Spaejt, Ger:«:aky, Flais^ders, 
AND Italy. IN SPAIN, the Archduke Charles, the Earl 
of Peterborough,t and, afterwards, the Earl of Galvray, op- 
posed to the Duke of Berwick, Vendome, and Philip V. 

Ix Gerhai^t, Flajs^ders, Ais^D Italt ; Tallard, Cati- 
nat, Villars, Villeroy, Marsin, and Boufflers, opposed by 
Prince Eugene J and Marlborough, supported by Heinsius, 
the grand pensionary of Holland. ' a triumvirate like that of 

Eugene, Marlborough, and Heinsius is rarely found to occur in history ; but 
not merely their greatness, their very wealmesses contributed to make the 
alliance indissoluble. Would it have been so without the avarice and ambi- 
tion of Marlborough, without the obstinate narro^mess of Heinsius ? The 
noble Eugene is alone without a blemish. The personal situations of these 
men rendered their sphere of action extensive ; of Eugene as a general, and, 
since 1703, president of the Council of War ; of Heinsius, as grand pensionary, 
without a stadtholder ; of Marlborough, at once as a general, a statesman. 



* The fullest account of this war the reader will find in Lord Mahon's 
TT^rtr of the Spanish Succession. There is a good sketch of it in the Studenfs 
Hist, of Finance, published by Murray. See also Menzel, vol. ii. cli. ccxxx. 
and vol. iii. ch. ccxxxi., or Coxe, vol. ii. ch. Ixviii. seqg. 

t Read, on the exploits of the Earl of Peterborough in Spain, Defoe's very 
amusing novel or tale, Memoirs of Col. Jack. 

X On Prince Eugene, read an admirable article in the National Review for 
October 1860. The masterly picture of Marlborough in Thackeray's Esmond 
is well known. 



92 WAR OF THE SPAXISH SUCCESSIOX, 1701-1714. 

and the liead of a party. He ruled in the cabinet as "vrell as in the field, as 
long the party of the Whi.gs was at the helm ; a crafty, uncertain, fasci- 
nating hero/ — H, J/. 

The principal events of the War"*" were, tlie ^vi^Kiim Qi 
JEtalD Iji) prtnrc (Eugene ; his occupation of Lombardy ; 
doubtful battle of Luzzara against Tendome^ 1702. Yictoiy 
of Prince Eugene at Turin, 1706 : be drives tbe French out 
of Italy and occupies Milan and Mantua^ 1707. ^tft0rtr;^ 
of i^t Jfrntd; on tbe Ebine over tbe Imperialists at Frid- 
ling, Stolbafen^ Hocbstedt, and Spires^ 1702, 1703. iHarl- 
5flr0uC55 tnXtxi (Strmany to assist tbe Emperor (Leo- 
pold I.), 1704. Wins tbe victories of Blenbeim,| Eamillies, 
Oudenarde. and Malplaquet, 1704-1709. ' The campaign of 1704 

\ras the first decisive one for G-ennany. By the great victory obtained by the 
allies, imder Marlborough and Prince Eugene, at Blenheim ."August 13. ITO-i, 
Bavaria was conquered and G-ermanv delivered. Such a day Louis XIT. had 

never witnessed. -i/. M. Capture of Lille^ Mons, Douai, and 
otber fortresses of ^tbe Iron Frontier ' by Eugene and Marl- 
borough. Meanwhile tijt ^rdjtful^c GI)arIc^ txxitxi J^pam, 
1704, supported by the Portuguese and English, and op- 
posed by the Duke of Berwick ; 1704. Gibraltar taken by 
Rooke ; storm of Monjuich by Peterborough; the Archduke 
Charles takes Barcelona and is acknowledged in Catalonia^ 
Murcia^ and Valencia ; Philip flees from Madrid. ' Charles 

refused to enter Madrid on account of the want of a state caniage, and by 
his folly delayed the performance of a ceremony which would have made the 
deepest impression on the Spaniards. —J/. l704-1706. ' The war was 
begun in Spain between Charles and Philip ; it was not. however, decisive, 
but for that reason the more destructive as a ci^-il war, Charles being chiefly 
supported in Catalonia and An-agon, Philip in Castile.' — E. Af. ' Fostered 
by the national hatred between the Castilians and Arragonese, a civil war 
was begim. the hoiTors of which are almost without a parallel in history.' — 

P- Peterborough is superseded by the incompetent Earl of 
Galway in command of the Archduke's allied army of 
English, Dutch, Portuguese, and Catalonians : and is^ with 



* A concise and clear summary of the war is given in Heeren's Manual of 
the Pol. State Sustems of Europe, vol. i. Period II. pt. i. p. 279. 

t Eead Coxe. vol. ii. ch. Ixs. p. 509 segg. ' The loss of the enemy (the 
French and Bavarians) exceeded 40,000 men, including prisoners and de- 
serters, besides 120 pieces of artillery, 300 colours and standards, and the 
principal part of the military chest.' Read also Knight's Pop. Hist, of 
England, vol, v. p. 281 seqq., and Thackeray's novel of Esmond. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CIRC. 1705. 93 



Das Minas^ disgTacefully defeated at Almanza^* 1708. The 
Archduke loses all his conquests in Spain except part of 
Catalonia and the two towns of Alicante and Denia. Rein- 
forcements arrive from Germany under Stahremberg, who, 
with the aid of the English under Stanhope, wins the yic- 
tories of Almenara and Saragossa t over Philip's forces, and 
enables the Archduke a second time to drive Philip out of 
Madrid ; 1710. Charles enters Madrid. « But the moment Tvhen 

he would have been welcomed with open arms had been irreparably neglected. 
The people, jealous of his dependence upon the English heretics, received him 
with ominous silence. The Pope and the Jesuits secretly worked against 
him. France sent reinforcements and her best general, Yendome.' — 31. ' Had 
Charles been capable of improving his victory, this successful day (the vic- 
tory of Saragossa) might have again restored the crown to the House of 
Austria ; but while he remained in a state of indecision Philip actively em- 
ployed the interval in repairing his losses.' — C. Victory of Vendome 

at Brihuega and capture of Stanhope's forces. 'At this critical 

moment Stanhope separated from the Germans, and allowed himself and the 
whole of his army to be made prisoners.'— if. Bloody and obstinate 

battle of Villa Viciosa, 1710. 'The victory was claimed by both 
parties, and Te Deum was sung both at Barcelona and Madrid ; yet whatever 
honour or advantage Stahremberg might have gained in this well-fought 
conflict, he suffered all the consequences of a defeat ; reaching Catalonia with 
no more than 7,000 men, the dispirited remnant of that army which, a few 
months before, seemed master of Spain.' — C. The AjTchduke Charles 

remains at Barcelona till the death of his brother J oseph I. 
recalls him to Germany. 

Foundation of the Bank of Vienna, 1703 (or, according to 

some authorities, 1714). 'Commencement, from this period, of the 
evils caused in Austria by the abuse of paper money : none other of the 
States in Europe has suffered so long and so severely on this account.' — H. M. 

Dming the above period, while the War of the Spanish 
Succession was being carried on, death of the Emperor Leo- 
pold 1.,+ 1705. 

Josepli Z. (son of Leopold I.), Emperor, 1705 ; just 

after the victory of Blenheim. ' Dm-ing the reign of his father, Leo- 
pold I., Joseph had served -with distinction in the German army against the 
French. Nor was he less humane than generous and intrepid : he exhorted 



* Read Coxe, vol. iii. ch. Ixsiv. p. 32, Bohn's edit. 

t On these and the subsequent events in Spain, read Coxe, vol. iii, 
ch. Ixxviii. p. 67, Bohn's edit. 

X Read the character of Leopold I. in Coxe, vol. ii. ch. Ixxi. p. 515, Bohn'3 
edit. 



94 PEACE OF UTRECHT, CIRC. 1710-1713. 



and animated tlie soldiers, visited the sick and wounded, and dlstrilnited 
presents among the widows and orphans of the slain.' — C. 

Insurrection of the peasantry in Bavaria against Austria, 
quelled and punished with merciless severity. The Empe- 
ror restores religious liberty to Hungary ; < a measure which had 

more effect in quelling Ragoczy's insurrection than even the victories gained 

by General Heister.'- if. The Electors of Bavaria and Cologne 
put imder the ban of the Empire, 1706. Fruitless negotia- 
tions for peace at Gertruydenberg, carried on during the 
war; 1710. Successes of the Imperial armies in Hungary 
against the insurgents under Kagoczy, who takes refuge in 

Poland. ' During this career of victory Joseph acted with equal prudence, 
lenity, and vigour.'— c. The Convention of Zetmar, 1711, gives 

peace to Hungary. ' The principal conditions of this celebrated treaty 
were : a general amnesty ; the restitution of confiscated property ; the libe- 
ration of prisoners ; and the exercise of the Protestant religion as stipulated 
by the constitutions of the kingdom ; with the confirmation of all rights and 
immunities approved by Joseph at his coronation, and liberty to propose 
other grievances for redress at the ensuing Diet.' — C. Untimely death 

of the Emperor Joseph ; 1711. ' when just beginning the proud 
satisfaction of giving tranquillity to a country so long distracted by civil 
commotions, and of being able to turn his whole force against France, death 
arrested him in the midst of his short but brilliant career.' * — (7. 

Charles VI., brother of the late Emperor Joseph I. and 

son of the Emperor Leopold I.^ crowned Bmperor, at 

Frankfort; 1711. ' Charles was at this juncture (his brother's death) 
in Spain, reduced to the single province of Catalonia, and was awakened 
from his dream of visionary regal grandeur to the inheritance of the House 
■ of Austria, and the prospect of the Imperial dignity.' — C. ' The accession of 
Charles entirely changed the aspect of afifairs. England, who was imitated 
by the allies of lesser importance, deemed G-ermany and Spain more dangerous 
when united under one head than Prance and Spain under two, and unex- 
pectedly declared in Philip's favour. Torrents of blood were again fruitlessly 
shed, and Prance, aided by all the other European powers, once more grasped 

her prey.'— 1/. The war continues ; the forces of the Empire 
under the command of Prince Eugene \ the Peace of 
TTtreclitjt 1713 (between France^ with England, Holland, 
Portugal, Savoy, &c. &c.), leaves the Empire alone at war 
with France ; Prince Eugene is thwarted by the incapable 



* Eead the character of this Emperor in Coxe, vol. iii. ch. Ixxix. pp. 79, 80. 

t On the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht, read Heeren's Manual {Europe) y 
vol. i. Period II. pt. i. p. 284, where the terms of all the separate treatiea 
concluded at the Congress of Utrecht are given. More briefly, Coxe, vol. iii, 
eh. Ixxxi. p. 94 (Bohn's edit.), or in Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxxxi. p. 6. 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CIRC. 1720. 



95 



Duke of Ormond^ successor in command of the English 
forces, after Marlborough's disgrace, and peace is concluded 
with France at Radstadt or Baden ; 1714. « By this the treaty of 

Utreclit was recognised : Philip remained in possession of Spain, England in 
that of Gibraltar, &c. The Emperor, Charles VI. , on the other hand, retained 
all the Spanish possessions in Italj^ Naples, Milan, Sardinia, besides the 
Netherlands and the fortresses of Rehl, Freiburg, and Breisach, and the ter^ 
ritory hitherto possessed by the French on the right bank of the Rhine, for 
which France was indemnified by the cession of Landau. The Emperor, as 
sovereign of the Netherlands, now concluded a treaty with Holland, accord- 
ing to which the fortresses on the French frontier were to be garrisoned and 
defended by both Ai strians and Dutch.' — M. [Fresh war in conjunc- 
tion with Venice against the Turks : victory of Eugene at 
Peterwardein^ 1716, where the Grand Vizier is killed, and 
at Belgrade ; taking of Belgrade ; 1717. Peace of Passaro- 
witz ivitJi Turkey ; 1718, by which Turkey cedes Belgrade, 
Temeswar, and part of Servia, Bosnia, and Wallachia. « The 

Turks, however, retained the Morea, which Charles had fruitlessly endea- 
voured to recover for Yenice.'— P. Establishment by Prince Eugene 

of the military colonies (Granitzers) on the Turkish fron- 
tier. 

CRUEL PERSECUTION ^mm^ this Emperors reign 
OF THE PROTESTANT COMMUNITIES IN 
THE TYROL AND THE SALZKAMMERGUT, by 
the Catholic party, headed by the Jesuits, 'it had been begun 

as early as 1685, and lasted in all till 1740, or even later.' Great emigra- 
tion of the persecuted peasantry, knovm under the name of 
The Salzburg Emigrration/ Erightful persecution and 
tortures inflicted by the Archbishop of Salzburg and the 
Inquisition ; f supported by a force of 6,000 soldiers sent by 

the Emperor Charles VI. < The soldiers, incited by their officers and 
by the priests, fell upon the peasantry like hounds upon timid deer. They 
were dragged from their homes, cruelly beaten, together with their wives 
and children. These crimes were countenanced by the Archbishop, who 
tortured the heads of the communes in prison, whilst the villagers fell a prey 



* Pead Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxxxiii. p. 30 seqq. 

t The reader who has had the good fortune to visit Salzburg will probably 
agree with me, that nothing but a total loss of memory will ever efface from 
his recollection the dungeons and torture-chamber of the castle of Salzburg, 
still existing in perfect preservation, with its grim array of rack, Spanish 
horse, and well. The only parallel to it I have ever seen in Europe, is the 
similar one at Ratisbon ; but there is another, not in such perfect preserva^ 
tion, in the castle, I think, of Nuremberg. 



96 THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION, 1718. 



to the licence of the soldiery.'— Jf. Noble exertions of Frederic 
William I., King of Prussia, in their behalf : lie gives tlie 

exiles a refuge in his dominions. < The inhuman separation, dming 
this persecution, of upwards of a thousand children from their parents, a 
barbarity worthy of cannibals and of the savages of the wild, not of a civi- 
lised nation, so deeply revolted the Prussian monarch, the only G-erman 
prince who exerted himself in their favour, that, after in vain threatening 
the Archbishop with reprisals, he despatched commissioners to Salzburg in 
the hope of saving some of the children by this exertion of his authority, 
but in vain. The expelled peasantry were, ere long, followed by crowds of 
voluntary emigrants, more particularly from Berchtesgaden. They were 
mocked and ill-treated during their passage through the Catholic countries, 
but found a friendly reception in Wiirtemberg, Nuremberg, and Hesse. 
A part of them went • o Holland and North America, but the greater num- 
ber, amounting to 16,300 souls, went into Prussia, and settled in the dwelling- 
places assigned by the King on the Niemen near to Tilsit, where their de- 
scendants still flourish.' — M. 

THE PRAGMATIC SATJCTIOTT, an edict of the 
Emperor, promulgated bj him in 1718, and subsequently 
confirmed by the Diet of the Empire, declaring his daughter 
Maria Theresa sole heiress of all the Austrian States. 'The 

Pragmatic Sanction was a new law of succession for the inheritance of the 
House of Austria. Charles settled the right of succession, in default of his 
male issue, first on his own daughters, then on the daughters of Joseph, and 
afterwards on the Queen of Portugal and the other daughters of Leopold.' — 

c. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF THE PRAG- 
MATIC SANCTION BY THE EMPIRE AND BY 
THE GREAT POWERS OF EUROPE BECOMES 
THE CHIEF OBJECT OF THE EMPEROR'S 

POLICY. ' Charles YI. was the last of the male line of the House of 
Hapsbarg. His only son died during infancy, and his whole care was to 
secure the inheritance of all his crowns to his daughter, Maria Theresa, 
whose hand he had bestowed upon Prancis, the youthful Duke of Lorraine ; 
an object he hoped to attain by means of the Pragmatic Sanction, a gua- 
rantee purchased from a l the great European powers. Blinded by paternal 
affection, he imagined that the sovereigns of Europe would consider a treaty 
binding ; an example of naivete remarkable in the midst of the faithlessness 
of the age.' — M. 

Quadruple alliance against Spain (the Emperor renouncing 
all claim to the Spanish crown) of the Empire, France, 
England, and Holland, 1718, afterwards, 1720, moulded into 

a Treaty of Peace with Spain. ' During the war that ensued, 171 8- 
1720, Bjng, the English admiral, almost totally destroyed the Spanish fleet 
off Cape Pa?saro (twenty-one vessels taken or destroyed out of twenty-seven) ; 
the coasts of Galicia were ravaged by English squadrons ; a remnant of the 
Spanish navy destroyed in Yigo ; Spain invaded by a French army under 



THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG, CIEC. 1730. 97 

tlie Duke of Ber^vick ; Messina taken by an Imperial army under Mercy, and 
nearly the whole of Sicily recovered from the Spaniards ; Peter the Great of 
Russia, who was irritated against George I. of England, was overawed by 
the appearance of an English fleet in the Baltic, and Charles XII. of Sweden, 
on whose co-operation Alberoni, the Spanish minister, had founded the most 
sanguine hopes, was killed at the siege of Fredericshall.' * — C. 

Acknowledgment of the Pragmatic Sanction by Spain, 
Eussia^ and Prussia ; 1726 ; and by France^ England^ Hol- 
land, and Saxon-Poland, about 1731, 1732. The accession 
of all these Powers^ except Prussia, was purchased at an 

enormous sacrifice . « France was promised Lorraine ; f Spain was bribed 
wdth Tuscany, Parma, and Placentia ; England and Holland were gained by 
the abolition of the commercial society of Ostend, which dealt a fatal blow 
to the Dutch trade. Augustus of Saxon-Poland was gained over by the as- 
surance of the succession of the crown of Poland to his son, Augustus III.' 
—J/. 

I3epral)ttp, tf^fratfattoix, an^ lixmit in iljt minm 
Courts of <§crmany \ at t^ii pertotf, from Khmxt 1720- 
1760. Enormous expense, waste, and extravagance, and dis- 
sipation, prevail in the Courts of Saxony, Bavaria, the 
Electorate of the Pfalz, Baden^ Wiirtemberg, Hanover, 
Br uns wick- Wolf enbtittel, &c. &c. 

Four Royal European thrones, it may be observed, viz. 
Great Britain, Prussia, Poland, and Denmark, are at this 
time filled by Princes of the Empire. 

War of the Polish Succession, 1733, to place Stanislaus, 
father-in-law of Louis XV. of France, on the Polish throne ; 
supported by France, Spain, and Sardinia, against Austria, 
Denmark, and Russia, who support Frederic Augustus II. 
The Empire joins in the war, 1734. Campaigns in Italy 
and the Rhine. Loss of Lorraine and Bar to the French. 



* ' His death was destined to a barren strand, 
A petty fortress and a dubious hand.' 

Johnson, Vanity of Human Wishes. 
The fine passage, beginning with * On what foundation,' &c. &c., and of 
which the two lines above quoted form the conclusion, is well kno^vn. The 
design formed by Charles XII., at the instigation of Alberoni, to invade 
England at the head of a combined force of Swedes and Russians, with the 
intention of joining the Jacobites and dethroning George I., is noticed in 
but few works on English history. 

t Lorraine did not finally become French till 1766, during the reign of 
the Emperor Francis I. Read Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxxxi. p. 11. 
X Read on this, ch. coxxxii. of Menzel, vol. iii. 



98 



CONTINUED DECLINE OF THE EMPIEE. 



The war lasts * till 1738, with little else than disaster 
and disgrace to the Empire, in spite of the exertions of 
Prince Eugene and Mercy, till the peace concluded by the 
Treaty of Vienna, after a period of nearly three years spent 
in negotiation. 

■ Marriage of the Archduchess Maria Theresa, daughter of 
the Emperor Charles VI., to Francis, Duke of Lorraine, and 
grandson of the Emperor's sister Leonora (afterwards Fran- 
cis I.). Death of the "brave Prince Eugene. Disastrous war 
with the Turks, 1787-1739 j loss of Servia, Wallachia, and 
Bosnia; siege and surrender of Belgrade to the Turks. 
Disgraceful Peace of Belgrade, by which all the territories 
ceded by the Turks in 1718 are, with the exception of 

Temeswar, restored to them.f « The armies of the Emperor were* 
since the death of Eugene, commanded by incapable generals, and defeated 
in three several engagements, by the Turks, who recovered almost all the 
territory previously wrested from them.' — P. ' The Emperor was violently 
agitated at the disasters that had befallen him, and in the agony of his mind 
he exclaimed, " Is the fortune of my Empire departed with Eugene?" ' — C, 
Gradual decline and decay of the Empire botli 
externally and internally. ' The Austrian Monarchy (for it can 
hardly be considered at this period as an Empire any longer) changed its 
policy and provinces, without suffering any internal revolution, other than 
that of a gradual decline. The Emperor, Charles YI., more occupied with 
the future than the present, had already obtained the guarantee of his Prag- 
matic Sanction from all the European powers — at least on paper. Provi- 
dence, indeed, had given him an Eugene ; but he was unable to prevent evea 
the decay of the army, much less that of the finances, and the whole internal 
organisation.' — H. M. 

Death of Frederic William I., King of Prussia, 1740, 

the founder of Prussian greatness^ < leaving behind him a flourish- 
ing revenue, an accumulated treasure, and an army of 70,000 men, surpassing 
any European troops in discipline.'— 0. C. T. He is succeeded by his 

son, Frederic II., 'ber alte §ri^;' also known by the soubri- 
quet of ^Frederic Sanspareil;' 1740 j who raises Prussia to 
the rank of one of the five first-rate European powers. 



* On this most uninteresting war, the reader can, if he pleases, see Coxe, 
vol. iii. ch. xc. and xci., Bohn's edit. 

t On this war, if the reader cares, he can see Coxe, vol. iii. ch. xcii.,xciii., 
xciv. A clear summary of it, and of the conditions of the Treaty of Belgrade, 
4s given in Heeren, Manual of the P. S% S. of Mod. Europe, vol. i. Period II. 
pt. ii. p. 351. 



FESIALE BRANCH OF THE HOUSE OF HAPSBURG. 



99 



Death of tlie Emperor, Charles VI. 1740 ; in whom was 
extinguished the male line of the Hapshurg family. He is 
succeeded in the hereditary States, according to the Prag- 
matic Sanction^ by 

T^imiA. THERESA, his eldest daughter, wife of Fran- 
cis, Duke of Lorraine ; ' a woman distinguished for her beauty and for 
a character far surpassing in vigour that of her father and those of many of 
her ancestors.' — M, 'No princess ever ascended a throne under circum- 
stances of greater peril, or in a situation which demanded more energy, 
fortitude, and judgment.' * — C. 

The Pragmatic Sanction at once disregarded on the death 
of Charles VI. by Spain, Prussia, Bayaria, Saxony, and 

France. 'No semblance of justice could be brought forward ; for France 
had not merely recognised, but even guaranteed the Pragmatic Sanction, 
This, however, seemed to France the time for destroying her ancient rival 
and for dividing her provinces.' — H. M. 

^rUuau^ crtsi^ ni affair^ in l^t %txttiitKX^ ^tKtti ct 
i^t ^u^triait i^nttarcljw. Claims are advanced to the 
whole Austrian Monarchy by Spain, Saxony, and Bavaria; t 
and invasion at the same time of Silesia by Prederic 11. of 

Prussia ; 1740. < Frederic II. (the Great) availed himself of this oppor- 
tunity for reviving the ancient claims of Brandenburg to the Silesian Duchies 
of Brieg, Liegnitz, and Wohlau, and to the principality of Jagerndorf. The 
refusal of Maria Theresa to recognise these claims led to the first Silesian 
war.' — P. ' Frederic II. ascended the throne, determined to raise Prussia to. 
the rank of one of the great Powers of Europe ; and regarded aggrandisement 
as the means by which he must effect it. He gave himself but little trouble 
respecting the justice of his undertakings ; but he was distinguished from 
the common herd of conquerors by having one fixed object. He desired no 
more than was requisite for that object, and the conquest of Silesia appeared 
to him sufficient. His claim to some portion of it furnished him with an 
apology. Thus began, in this year, under a propitious concurrence of poli- 
tical relations, the first Silesian war.' — H. M. Duplicity of 

Frederic II. of Prussia 5 ' who acted with such consummate secrecy 
that his design was not divulged, and scarcely even suspected, when his 
troops entered the Austrian dominions.' — C. 

Brief sketch of the Wars of the reign of Maria Theresa, 
who associates her husband, Francis (afterwards Francis I.)^ 
in the government. 



* Read Coxe, vol. iii. ch. xcvii. 

t The particulars of these claims are given very clearly in Heeren, Man. of 
the P. S. S. of Europe, vol. ii. Period II. pt. i. p. 10. The claims of Frederic XL. 
to the Silesian Duchies are given at length in p. 7 of the same vol, 

H 2 



100 



THE SILESIAN WARS, CIRC. 1740. 



The 1st Silesian war from 1740-1742. 

The 2iid Silesian war from 1744-1745. 

The 3rd Silesian war, better known by the name of the 
Seven Years' War, from 1756-1763. 

And war with the French, Saxons, and Bavarians, who 
overrun Lower Austria and Bohemia and take Prague, in 
support of the cause of Charles, Elector of Bavaria, who is 

' On the extinction 

of the male line of Hapsburg in the person of Charles VI., the intrigues of 
the French envoy, Marshal Belleisle, procured the election of Charles Albert 
of Bavaria,* who stood first among the Catholic princes. His reign was a 
succession of misfortunes and ignominies. Driven from Munich by the 
Austrians, the head of the Holy Empire lived in Frankfort on the bounty of 
France, cursed by the country on which his ambition had brought the 
miseries of a protracted war.' — Bi\ 

Secret Alliance of Nymphenherg, 1741, of France, Bavaria, 
Spain, and Saxony against Maria Theresa, in which Fre- 
deric II. afterwards j oined. * Maria Theresa thus, at the outset of her 
reign, saw more than half Europe leagued against her, ' and had but little 
reason to hope for foreign assistance. She had, then, only her own strength 
to trust to, which did not seem augmented by the loss of the Imperial crown 
(by the election of Charles VII. of Bavaria), or by the general course of the 
war. Charles VII. gained little by the Imperial diadem, but Austria lost 
a great deal.' — H. M. 

The principal events of these Wars, during the reigns of 
Maria Theresa and of her husband, Francis of Lorraine (after- 
wards elected Emperor asFrancisI.inl745), were as follows: 
during the \st and %id Silesian ivars, and the war against 
Charles VII., the invasion of Silesia by Frederic ZZ. and 
the defeat of the Austrians at Mohvitz; 1741. ^^vtKl at 
iHaria d&etf^a ta i^t ?gungartan HBtet at Pressburg. *she 

convoked the proud magnates to the Diet, and appeared among them attired in 
the Hungarian costume, the sacred crown upon her head, the sabre girded to 
her side, radiant with beauty and spirit, and called upon them, by their duty as 
cavaliers, to stand up in her cause. The whole assemblage, fired with enthu- 
siasm by her charms, exclaimed with one voice, " Moriamur pro rege nostro, 
Maria Theresa I " and took the field at the head of their serfs, 30,000 cavalry 
and wild hordes of Pandours and Croats, which, leaving the French at 

Prague, moved upon Bavaria.' j—M. Treaty concluded by England 



* ' The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour, 

Tries the dread summits of Csesarian power,' &c. 

Johnson, Van. of Human Wishes 
t — ' Pair Austria spreads her mournful charms : 
The Queen, the beauty, sets the world in arras.' 

Johnson, Van. of Human Wishes, 



^lARIA THERESA AND FREDERIC II. 



101 



to support Maria Theresa; 1741. Stfcat nf ti)t ^xiiixmi^ 
at C^a^Iau ; Peace of Breslau and cession by Austria of 

nearly all Silesia ; 1742. « a sacrifice was at last made to Frederic : 
he ^\-as bought ofE by the cession of Lower Silesia and Breslau ; and the 
Queen and her generals, thus obtaining a respite from this able and enter- 
prising robber, were enabled to direct, and successfully direct, their efforts 
against the remaining hosts of plunderers that had assailed her.' — >S'. 

Charles of Bavaria, crowned King of Bohemia at Prague 
and Emperor at Frankfort; 1742. Bohemia and Upper 
Austria recovered by the Austrian forces, imder their great 
generals Khevenhiiller and Prince Charles of Lorraine ; the 
French, Saxon, and Bavarian forces under Belleisle driven 
out ; Prague surrendered to the Austrians ; Belleisle's disas- 
trous retreat ; 1 / 43. ' No European army erer experienced more dread- 
ful snfferings : the soldiers, without any other subsistence than frozen bread, 
compelled to sleep on ice and snow, without a covering, and perpetually 
harassed by flying parties, perished in great numbers. " The roads," says the 
historian of Bohemia, " were dreadful to behold : they were overspread with 
corpses ; heaps of one or two hundred men each, with their ofiBcers. were 
found stiffened with the frost, or dead with fatigue." He thus closed this 
singular expedition, in which he entered Germany as a legislator and a con- 
queror, at the head of 40,000 men, and retimied to France, humiliated and a 

fugitive, with only 8,000. —C. The Emperor Charles Yll. is com- 
pelled to fly ; Bavaria occupied by the so-called Pragmatic 
army of English, Hanoverians, and Hessians ; ^hich, under 
George II. of England, in person, in support of Maria Theresa, 
defeats the French, uuder Marshal Xoailles, at Dettingen * 

(near Aschaffenburg) ; 1743. ' Though the Elng took no part in the 
dispositions of this battle, he displayed great personal bravery, and several 
times led his cavalry and infantry to the charge.'— C. Alsace and Lor- 
raine ravaged by Charles of Lorraine at the head of the 
Austrian forces. Fresh alliance against Austria of France, 
the Emperor Charles YJI., the Palatinate and Hesse-Cassel, 
and Frederic II. of Prussia ; 1744 : at Frankfort. ' The fear of 

losing Silesia, if Austria, now leagued with Saxony, should be victorious, en- 
gaged Frederic to this measui'e.'— ZT. 21. Invasion of Bohemia by 



Read also Coxe, vol. iii. ch. ci. p. 268 seqg., Bohn's edit., and the fine descrip- 
tion of this scene in Smj-fhe's Led. on Mod. Eist., vol. ii. lect. xxix. p. 308, 
extracted in the Appendix to this work. The whole of the lecture is well 
worth reading on this period. 
* Bead, on the battle, Coxe, vol. iii. ch. civ. p. 290 seqq., Bohn's edit. 



102 THE SILESIAN WARS, CIRC. 1745. 

Frederic 11. at the head of an immense army; lie forces 
Prague to surrender; Charles VII. regains possession of 
Bavaria. 

Fresh appeal of Maria Theresa to the Hungarians. < she 

recalled the army from Alsace, and to animate the zeal of her Hungarian 
subjects, repaired, at the invitation of the diet, to Presburg, and roused the 
spirit of the nation in her defence. Count Palfy, the venerable Palatine of 
Hungary, set up the great red standard of the kingdom, as a signal for " a 
general insurrection," or universal levy : 44,000 men instantly took the field, 
and another body of 30,000 held themselves in readiness as an army of re- 
serve.'— C. Prince Charles of Lorraine^ at the head of the 
Austrian and Saxon forces, recovers Bohemia, out of which 
he drives the King of Prussia : death of the Emperor 
Charles VIL at Munich ; * 1745. Campaign in the Nether- 
lands ; bloody battle of Fontenoj ; 1745 ; and victory of the 
French under Louis XV. and Marshal Saxe over the allies, 
British, Dutch, and Austrians, under the Duke of Cumber- 
land and Marshal Konigsegg. ' Few engagements have been attended 
with more dreadful carnage than that of Pontenoy : both parties suffered 
equal loss and shared equal honour ;,but the result of the battle was most 

fatal to the allies.'— C. Campaign on borders of Silesia, between 
the Prussians under Frederic II., and the Austrian and 
Saxon army under Prince Charles of Lorraine. Peace of 
Fiissen between Austria and Bavaria ; Maximilian of Ba- 
varia, son and successor of Charles VII., the late Emperor, 
resigns his claim to the Imperial crown on condition of re- 
taining his hereditary dominions intact ,* 1745. Defeat of 
the Austricms under Prince Charles of Lorraine by Frederic 
II. at Hohenfriedherg t (in Silesia), and again of Prince 
Charles and Marshal Lobkowitz at Son-f in Bohemia; 1745. 
Withdrawal of the English troops (in alliance with Austria) 
to oppose the progress of the Pretender at home. Election 
of Francis of Lorraine, husband of Maria Theresa, as 



* ' The bafiBed prince in honour's flattering bloom 
Of hasty greatness finds the fatal doom, 
His foes' derision and his subjects' blame, 
And steals to death from anguish and from shame.' 

Johnson, Van iiy of Human Wishes, 
t On these battles, read Coxe, vol. iii. ch. cvi. pp. 315 and 320. 



THE HOUSE OF LORRAINE AND FREDERIC II. 103 



S'rancis X., Emperor, by the Diet of Frankfort ) ; 

arst of the House of Iiorraine.* ' Maria Theresa was present 
on this occasion, and from a balcony testified her triumph by first crying 
" Long live the Emperor Francis I. ! " which was re-echoed by the accla- 
mations of the spectators. Thus she had the satisfaction of placing the 
Imperial cro"UTi on the head of her illustrions consort, and securing its resto- 
ration to her family, by whom it had been worn for an uninterrupted period 
t)f above 300 years.' — C. ' Francis, nevertheless, was merely invested with 
the Imperial dignity, and Maria Theresa reigned alone, aided by her subtle 

minister Kaunitz.'— if. Invasion of the Electorate of Saxony by 
the Prussians ; defeats of the Saxon troops (in alliance with 
Austria) at Hennersdorf by Frederic 11.^ and at Kesselsdorf 
by the Prince of Anhalt ; 1746. Peace of Dresden between 
Austria and Prussia; 1746. 

Continued l^ise of the Power of Prussia,t under 
the able administration of Frederic II. 

Campaign of the French under Marshal Saxe in the 
Netherlands : he takes Brussels and nearly all the Austrian 
Netherlands ; defeat of the Austrians and their allies under 
Prince Charles of Lorraine at Paucoux; 1746. 'The retreat 

was ably covered by Sir John Ligonier at the head of a body of British 

horse.'— c. Campaign in the North of Italy of the Austrians 

and Sardinians, aided by the English fleet, against the French 

and Spaniards under Belleisle ; Genoa taken by the Austrians 

and afterwards lost. Defeat of the allies (Austrians, Dutch, 

British, Hanoverians, and Hessians), under the Prince of 

Orange and the Duke of Cumberland, at Lauffeldj near 

Maestricht, by the French under Marshal Saxe; 1747. 

Taking of Bergen op Zoom by the French ) 1747. Alliance 

of Austria with Kussia, 1747. ^txux^l ^tKtt ^tjr4a* 

€I)apene; 1748. ' The principal articles that concerned the Empire, 
Austria, and Prussia, were, the guarantee of Silesia and G-latz in favour of 
Frederic ; the guarantee of the Pragmatic Sanction in favour of Austria ; 
the surrender of Parma and Piacenza by Austria to Spain ; Austria to retain 
the rest of her dominions unbroken. . . . Thus an end was put, by this peace, 
to the project of overthrowing the existing system of Europe by the dis- 



* With the House of Lorraine, a new family was seated on the throne, 
widely different from that of Hapsbm-g. Spanish etiquette, together with 
many of the ancient maxims of government, disappeared. Little change, 
however, was made in the internal relations of the monarchy, though much 
at times was attempted.' — H. M. 

t Eead Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxxxv. p. 54 seqq. 



104 



PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE, 1748. 



memberment of Austria. It lost Silesia, Parma, and Piacenza ; but it kept 
its station as one of the great powers, and it gained, in a short time, a rich 
compensation for its losses, by a better use of its vast internal resources.' — 
H.M. 

Ministry of Count Kaunitz^ chancellor of Maria Theresa, 

in Austria, at this period, « After the peace of Dresden, Maria Theresa, 
by the advice of her minister, Count Kaunitz, employed all the arts of diplo- 
macy for the purpose of embroiling the King of Prussia with the other 
European courts.' — P. ' The rising prosperity of Prussia, the superior 
talents and statesmanship of her King, and his unsparing ridicule, had 
gained for him the enmity of all his brother sovereigns. The mention of 
Silesia filled Maria Theresa alternately with rage and sorrow, and her subtle 
minister insratiated himself even the more deeply in her favour by his un- 
wearying endeavour to regain possession of that rich and fertile country.' — 
31. ' That the loss of Silesia should never be forgotten, the King of Prussia 
never forgiven, that his total destruction would have been the highest grati- 
fication to her, can be no subject of surprise.' — S. 

Reforms introduced into tlie Imperial houseliold by 
Maria Theresa^* who curtails the lavish expenditure that 
had prevailed under Charles VI. Formation of a new system 
of revenue duties for the promotion of commerce ; improve- 
ment of the discipline of the armies, camps formed in the 
provinces, and a Military Academy founded at Vienna; 
improvement of the harbour of Trieste ; (measures further 
carried out afterwards by her successor, Joseph II.). Close 
connection at this time between Austria, Saxony, and 
Russia. 

Treaty of Versailles, and alliance, offensive and defensive, 
between Austria and France — directed against Prussia and 
England ; t 1756 ; negotiated by Kaunitz. « Austria felt that in 

order to subvert Prussia allies were necessary. Under these circumstances, 
an alliance with France was the most desirable thing for Austria, and she 
found a minister, who not only conceived, but attempted this project, and 
built his own greatness on its accomplishment. During foi.ir reigns, Prince 
Kaunitz was the soul of the Austrian cabinet ; or rather, in possessing the 
joint dignities of chancellor of the court and state, he almost constructed 

this cabinet of himself.'—^. M. Austria gives Up her connexion 
with England, and Prussia allies herself with England. J ' The 

news of the Treaty of Yersailles found Prederic prepared for the event. 
Clearly foreseeing the certain and speedy coalition of his enemies, he deter- 



* For more see Coxe, vol. iii. ch. cix. p. 343 seqq., Bohn's edit, 
t The object and terms of the Treaty of Versailles are very clearly given 
in Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxxxv. p. 57. 
t On these transactions read Coxe, vol, iii. chs. ex., cxi., Bohn's edit. 



THE HOUSE OF LORRAINE AND FREDERIC II. 105 



mined to be the first in the field, and to sm^prise them ere they had time to 
coalesce. The intended partition of Prussia in 1756 was equallj* just witia 
that of Austria in 1741. Frederic's sole resource lay in his genius, and in 
this alone he confided for success, as he courageously unfurled his flag before 
Austria had armed, or war had been declared by France.' — M. 

COMMETffCEmiSS^T OF THB S^"^^!^ TEARS' 
BETWEEN AUSTRSA AiKFl^ PRITSSIA 5 ST 

The Allies of Prussia^ England^ Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick^ 

Gotha, and Lippe. 

Tlie Allies of Austria^ Kiissia, Saxony, Bayaria; and tlie 

rest of the Empire, bribed and subsidised by France. « Fre- 
deric's enemies intended to bring against him a force of 500,000 men, to 
surround and crush him. This force, however, had still to be levied : the 
object of Frederic's whole policy was the prevention of the coalition of the 
forces of his opponents,in order to attack them singly.' — M. 

The war commences with the invasion and conquest of 
Saxony by Frederic the taking of Dresden, and the de- 
feccb of the Austrians under General Browne at Lowositz 
and the capitulation to Frederic of the Saxon army at 

Pirna J 1756. < if the first Silesian war on Frederic's side was an offen- 
sive one, the Seven Years' War, although he first drew the sword, was 
strictly defensive ; but the laurels he earned are the more imperishable, the 
less he was the favourite of fortune.' — H. M. 

Principal battles of the Seven Years' War, were, the battle 
of Prague, 1757 (victory of Frederic over the Imperialists 
under Prince Charles of Lorraine and General Browne) ; 
battle of Kollin (defeat of Frederic by the Austrians imder 

Marshal Daun). ' in yain the King of Prussia exerted all his skill and 
courage in this desperate conflict : his cavalry charged six times, and were 
six times repulsed : Frederic again rallied them, and finding them dispirited, 
exclaimed, " Would you live for ever ! " They were a seventh time led to the 
charge, and were again driven back. The troops, for the first time defeated, 
gave way to despondency, and in their retreat exclaimed, " This is our 

Puitawa!'"— c. Battle of Hastenbeck, in the territory of Ha- 
meln (defeat of the allies of Frederic, English and Hano- 
verians, under the Duke of Cumberland, by the French, 
allied with Austria, under Marshal d'Estrees) ; disgraceful 
Convention of Closter-Seeven, by which Cumberland agTeed 
to disband his troops. Invasion and frightful devastation of 
Prussia by the Eussians and Swedes in alliance with Austria^ 



106 



THE SEVEN YEARs' WAR, 1756-1768.- 



hattle of Grossjdgerndorf (defeat of the Prussians under 
General Lewald by the Russians under Marshal Apraxin). 
Great battle of Bosshach* on the plain of Leipzig (glorious 
victory of Frederic, with 22,000 Prussians, over the combined 
Imperialist and French army of 64,000 men, under the 
Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and Marshal Soubise). * Por 

tMs complete victory over the ill-assorted and badly-officered masses of his 
adversaries, Frederic was mainly indebted to a desperate charge made by 
General Seidlitz at the head of his cavalry.'— P. ' As completely and easily 
as Napoleon defeated the Prussians at Jena, did Frederic the G-reat defeat the 
French at Rossbach.'f — A. ' The two armies met on the 5th of November, 
0n the broad plain around Leipzig, near the village of Rossbach, not far from 
the scene of the famous encounters of earlier times. The enemy, three times 
superior in number to the Prussians, lay in a half-circle with a view of sur- 
rounding the little Prussian camp, and, certain of victory, had encumbered 
themselves with a numerous train of women, wig-makers, barbers, and 
modistes from Paris. The French camp was one scene of confusion and 
gaiety. On a sudden, Frederic sent General Seidlitz with his cavalry amongst 
them, and an instant dispersion took place, the troops flying in every direc- 
tion without attempting to defend themselves ; some Swiss, who refused to 
yield, alone excepted. The G-ermans on both sides showed their delight at 
the discomfiture of the French. An Austrian coming to the rescue of a 
Frenchman, v/ho had just been captured by a Prussian, " Brother G-erman," 
exclaimed the latter, " let me have this French rascal." " Take him and 
keep him," replied the Austrian, riding off. The scene more resembled a 
chase than a battle. The Imperial army (Reichsarmee) was thence nick- 
named the runaway army (Reissausaj^mee). Ten thousand French were 
taken prisoners. The loss on the side of the Prussians merely amounted to 
160 men. The booty chiefly consisted in objects of gallantry belonging 
rather to a boudoir than to a camp. The French army perfectly resembled 
its mistress, the Marquise de Pompadour.' f —i/". battle of JBresIau 

(the Prussians under the Prince of Bevern defeated, after 
a desperate engagement, by the Austrians under Prince 
Charles of Lorraine). Nearly the whole of Silesia recovered 
by the Imperialists. Battle of Leuthen, near Lissa (gi'eat 
defeat of the Austrians under Prince Charles of Lorraine by 
Frederic II.), and capture of Breslau, with its garrison. 

* Thus by one imprudent action of Prince Charles, Maria Theresa lost 50,000 



* Read Dr. Arnold's Led. on Hist., lect. iv. p. 156 seqq., on the question, in 
reference to which the battles of Jena and Rossbach are referred to by him, 
* whether history justifies the belief of an inherent superiority in some races 
of men over others, or whether such differences are only accidental and 
temporary, and we are to acquiesce in the judgment of Xing Archidamus, 
that one man naturally differs little from another, but that Culture and 
training make the distinction.' 

t For more on this wonderful victory, fought Nov. 5, 1757, read Coxe, vol. 
ill. ch. cxii. p. 382 seqq., Bohn's edit. 



THE HOUSE OF LORRAINE AND FREDERIC II. 107 



men, and, what was of still greater consequence, the troops lost their confi- 
dence in their own bravery and numbers, which had been the cause of their 
late success, and which it required, all the prudence of Daun to lestore.'— C 
' They met at the village of Leuthen, near the woods of Lissa, on the 5th of 
December ; and thus this greatest of Frederick's battles is known by either 
name. This was no sudden rout like that of Rosbach. The Austrians 
fought bravely ; but the genius of the Prussian leader gave him a mighty 
victory, which Napoleon said was of itself sufficient to place Frederick in the 
rank of the greatest of generals. When this wonderful campaign shall come 
to be described by an historian equal to the theme, we may perhaps under- 
stand the meaning of the words, " There were great kings before Napoleon." 
The writer (Carlyle, Friedrich II. vol. i. p. 10) to whom this task is allotted 
has briefly told us what he thinks of Rosbach and Leuthen : " Austerlitz and 
Wagram shot away more gunpowder — gunpowder probably in the proportion 
of ten to one, or a hundred to one ; but neither of them was tenth part such 
a beating to your enemy as that of Rosbach, brought about by strategic art, 
human ingenuity, and intrepidity, and the loss of 478 men. Leuthen too, 
the battle of Leuthen (though so few English readers ever heard of it), may 
very well hold up its head beside any victory gained by Napoleon or another. 
For the odds were not far from three to one ; the soldiers were of not far 
from equal quality ; and only the general was consummately superior, and 

the defeat a destruction." '—K. P. H. The French are driven by the 
allied forces of English^ Hanoverians^ Brunswickers^ and 
Hessians^ under Prince Ferdinand of Brunsv^ick, v^ho re- 
placed the Duke of Cumberland in the command^ out of 
Lauenburg^ and the Imperialists retreat from Silesia;* 
1757. 

Frederic compelled to raise the siege of Olmiitz and to 

quit Moravia, which he had invaded^ by the Imperialists, 

under General Laudon^ who^ with Marshal Daun, succeeded 

Prince Charles of Lorraine in the command. < Charles of Lor- 
raine, weary of his unvarying ill-luck, resigned the command, and was no- 
minated Stadtholder of the Netherlands, Avhere he gained great popularity.' 

Advance of the gTeat Russian army, in alliance with 

the Empress Maria Theresa, under General Fermor ; ' mur- 
dering and burning on their route, and converting Kiistrin, which refused 
to yield, into a heap of rubbish, and threatening Berlin.'— J/. Battle of 

Zorndorf (defeat of the Russians under General Fermor, 
with the loss of 19,000 men, by Frederic II., who himself 

loses 11,000). « The battle was carried with the greatest fury on both 
sides : no quarter was given, and men were seen, when mortally wounded, 
to seize each other with their teeth as they rolled fighting on the ground. 
Some of the captured Cossacks were presented by Frederick to some of his 
friends with the remark, " See, with vagabonds I am reduced to fight ! " ' — M. 



* The reflections on the campaign of 1757, in Coxe, vol. iii. ch. cxii. 
p. 387 seqq., are well worth reading. 



108 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR, 1756-1763. 



Battle of Hochhirch, near Bautzen, in Lusatia (surprise and 
defeat of tlie Prussians under Frederic by the Imperial- 
ists under Daun and Laud on ; Marshal Keith killed). 'Not- 

witlistandirg this brilliant action, Daun did not abate his characteristic 
caution, aware of the steadiness of the Prussian infantry, the inexhaustible 
resources of the King, and the rapidity of his movements. Though the vic- 
tory filled the court in Vienna with the most lively joy, and honours and 
emoluments were lavished on the commander-in-chief, yet the defeat of the 
Prussians was not followed by any considerable advantage.' — C. Battle of 

Crefeld, near Diisseldorf (defeat of the French under General 
Clermont by the allies (of Prussia)^ Hessians and Hanove- 
rians, under Ferdinand Duke of Brunswick). ' The campaign of 

1758 was carried on in the East by the King in person, against the Austrians 
and Bussians, whose union he effectually prevented ; and in the West by 
his allies under Duke Ferdinand, v/ho with great ability covered the right 
flank of the Prussians, and manceuvred the French from the Elbe across the 

Ehine.'— P. Frederic II. eludes the pursuit of Marshal Daun^ 
and drives the Austrians under General Harsch out of 
Silesia; 1758. 

Battle of Bergerij near Frankfort on the Maine (defeat of 

the allies of Prussia^ under l)uke Ferdinand of Brunswick, 

by the French under Broglio and Oontades). Battle of 

Zullichau, on the Oder (defeat of the Prussians under General 

Weddel^ by the Bussians, in alliance with Austria^ under 

Soltikow). Junction of the Eussian army with the Austrian 

under Marshal Laudon. While Frederic is collecting his 

forces, and at the head of 40^000 advancing to meet the 

combined Russian and Austrian armies of 80,000 men, his 

allies fight the battle of Minden (brilliant victory of the allies 

of Prussia, English, Hanoverians, Hessians, &c., under Duke 

Ferdinand of Brunswick, over the French under Broglio and 

Contades). Great battle of Kunersdorf near Frankfort on 

the Oder (defeat of Frederic by the Bussians under Soltikow 

and the Austrians under Laudon). ' Frederic, with a few pieces of 
cannon and a single regiment, exposed his person to protect the retreat of 
his troops ; two horses were killed under him : his clothes were pierced with 
musket-balls ; he received a slight contusion, and was only rescued by the 
exertions of the hussars. Favoured by the approach of night, he succeeded 
in saving the remnant of the army, and again took post on the same ground 
which he had occupied before the engagement \Yit'h scarcely more than 1,000 
men. He lost in this desperate conflict 20,000 of his bravest troops, with all 
his artillery ; but the allied army had little reason to exult in their success ; 



THE HOUSE OF LORRAINE AND FREDERIC II. 109 



for not less than 24,000 men on their side were killed and wounded, and 
Soltikow declared, that on such another victory, the loss having fallen almost 
entirely on the Russians, he must go alone, with his truncheon in his hand, 
to carry the news to St. Petersburg.' — C. The King is saved by tllB 

dissensions between the Kussians and the Austrians ) Solti- 
kow refusing to follow up his success or to pursue the 

Prussians. 'Had the conqueror listened to the advice of Laudon, and 
marched at once to Berlin, the ruin of Prussia would have been accom- 
plished ; but it seems probable that he had received secret instructions which 
prevented his adopting this course.' *— P. Battle of Minclen f (bril- 
liant victory of the allies of Prussia^ British and Hanove- 
rians^ under Ferdinand Duke of Brunswick^ over the French 
under Contades and Broglio). ' on the colours of our English 12th, 

20th, 23rd, 25th, 37th, and 51st regiments is inscribed the name of Minden. 
A small detachment of the Hanoverians and English appeared before Min- 
den, exposed, as it appeared to the French officers, to inevitable destruction. 
The two French generals having united their forces, made repeated attacks 
upon the solid English and Hanoverian infantry. Again and again they 
were driven back, and at last the French generals commanded a retreat. 
The cavalry under Lord G-eorge Sackville had not been engaged. Ferdinand 
sent him orders to charge the French before they could rally. Sackville 
would not understand the messages brought to him by three aides-de-camp, 
two of whom were English. The opportunity was lost for the entu'e rout 
of the enemy ; although the victory was complete as far as it went, and in 
spite of Sackville, Minden was a British triumph.' — K. P. H. The King 

(Frederic II.) recovers from his great discomfiture at Ku- 
nersdorf, ^ rises like the hydra with a new strength from his 
defeat/' and in a few days was at the head of 28^000 men, 
and covered his capital and Brandenburg. Dresden taken 
by the Imperial army under Daun^ aided by an Austrian 
force under Greneral Guasco. Battle of Maxen (defeat of the 
Prussians under General Fink by Marshal Daun, and cap- 
ture of the whole Prussian army of 14^900 men, seventeen 
generals, and seventeen pieces of cannon). Frightful suf- 
ferings of both armies during the winter campaign j 1759. 

Battle of Landshut (defeat of the Prussians under General 
Fouque by the Austrians under Laudon) ; fruitless siege of 



* On the inconsistent conduct of the Russian generals in this war, and 
the possible cause of it, namely, the fear of rendering themselves obnoxious 
to the future Emperor (Peter ni.)_, read Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxxxvi. p. 66. 
Compare also Coxe, vol. iii. ch. cxiv. p. 402. 

t Read, on the battle of Minden, Knight's Pop. H. of England, vol. vi. 
ch. XY. p. 236^ from whence the extract in the text is taken. 



110 THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR, 1756-1763. 



Dresden hj Frederic. Battle of Pfaffendorf (defeat of the 
Austrian army under Laudon by Frederic) . Battle of Torgau 
(great victory of the Prussians^ under Frederic, over the 
Imperialists under Daun) ; by which the King is enabled to 
regain possession of the whole of Saxony except Dresden. 

* This bloody action, by which the Prussian monarchy was saved, took place 
on November 3.'— J/. ' In this engagement the Austrians lost 20,000 men 
killed, wounded, and prisoners ; and the Prussians 13,000 of their bravest 

infantry.'— c. Indecisive actions in Cassel and Westphalia 
between the allies of Prussia and the French j 1760. 

Defensive campaign of the King against the united armies 
of the Imperialists and Eussians^ 130,000 strong. The dis- 
sensions between Butterlin, the Pussian general, and Laudon, 
prevent a combined attack on the King. The strong fortress 
of Schweidnitz taken by Laudon under the eyes of the 
King. The King maintains himself in Saxony, and Ferdi- 
nand at the head of the allies of Prussia in Hanover; 1761. 

* The death in the beginning of this year, 1762, of the Empress Elizabeth 
deprived Frederic of his bitterest enemy ; and in her nephew and successor, 
Peter III., he had as great a friend. This led not only to a separate peace, 
which was immediately followed by another with Sweden, but even an alli- 
ance ; and Europe saw with astonishment the unprecedented spectacle of an 
army leaving its allies, and marching over to the camp of its enemies.' — 

H. M. Xhe Kussians under Chernichef join the King but 
are recalled six months afterwards by the Empress Catha- 
rine II. of Russia (who succeeds to the throne on the 
assassination of Peter II.), just after the hattle of Burlier s- 
dorf (defeat of the Imperialists under Daun by Frederic). 
Schweidnitz retaken, after a gallant defence, by the King. 

* Thus terminated the campaign in Silesia, by which the Austrians irre- 
coverably lost that valuable province.'— c. Battle of Freiburg (defeat 

of the Imperialists under General Haddick by Prince Henry, 
brother of Frederic II.). Bohemia and Saxony ravaged by 
the Prussians. The French are baffled and harassed by the 
allies of Prussia under Ferdinand of Brunswick. The 
Peace of Paris, 1763, between France, Spain, and Eng- 
land, is followed by l^t ^mtt ni \%yxhtxt^\\\x%^ between 
the Empire, Austria, and Prussia; 1763. ' The German Empire 

had already declared itself neutral, and was included in the peace. Only 
Prussia, Austria, and Saxony now remained in a state of warfare. But wha* 



THE HOUSE OF LORRAINE AND FREDERIC II. Ill 



could Austria expect to accomplisli by herself ? especially as (besides Fre- 
deric's last victories) all her hopes of Silesia were blighted by the conquest; 
of Schweidnitz, The negotiations for a peace were easy to arrange, for 
neither party coveted aggrandisement or compensation ; and Frederic con- 
cluded the glorious Peace of Hubertsburg, without having lost a foot of 
territory.' — H. M. 

HEZa-CZSFORTH PRUSSXiL TiLKSS RiklTK AS 
Ol^S of the FXVS eRBilT BirXlOP£il.I«J POWERS^ 
iiN-B THS HOIiir ROMA^ EMPIRE IS PRACTX- 
CikXiXiir I>XVXI3»ZIB X:N'T0 THB two CrRBiLT 
X^OIfARGHXES OF AUSTRXil ikN^D PRUSSIA ; 
WHXCH, TXZiXi THS FR^TS'CH RISVOXjUTXON-, 
KOXbB the BAXiA^a-CS OF POWER OST THS 

COM'TXK'EN'T. ' This war, and the peace which terminated it, con- 
firmed the European System as established. Prussia and Austria remained 
the two first Continental powers ; neither the distant Russia, nor the weak- 
ened France, enchained by Austria, could make the least pretension to this 
distinction.' — B, M. ' In the Seven Years' War, the whole might of the 
Empire broke in vain against one resolute member. Prussia, under Frederick, 
approved herself at least a match for France and Austria leagued against 
her; and the appearance of unity which the predominance of a single power 
had hitherto given to the Empire was replaced by the avov/ed rivalry <k twQ 
military monarcliies.' * — Br. 

^rcJ)trxtfee go^rp]^, son of Maria Theresa^ elected 
King of the Eomans, 1764; and on his father's (Francis I.) 
deaths (I^mptrflr aiS Sa^cp]^ SC.; antf t^^'^^%t\\i iMit^ i&i^ 
mflt?)rr; 1765. jfretfmc t nccupu^ t!)C pni^^tan 
ti)rflne ttH 1786 ; he repairs the ravages and devastations 
Prussia had undergone in the Seven Years' War hy his able 
administration, introducing new settlers^ and encouraging 
manufactures^ arts, and agriculture. Prussia becomes, "par 
excellence, the land of the potato ; though equally perhaps 
deserving the name of the land of drill and of Eoyal 
monopolies. 

Various wild and rash schemes of reform brought forward 
by J oseph II. ; (afterwards carried out by him, but attended 



* On the enormous waste of blood and treasiu-e in the Seven Tears' War, 
in which, with the Silesian Wars, probably not less than 1,000,000 of human 
beings lost their lives, read Coxe, vol. iii. ch. cxvii., &c. 

t On Frederic II. 's able administration during peace, read Menzel, vol. iii» 
ch. ccxxxvii. p. 72 &eqq., and Heeren^J/a/iwa^ df the Stat, Syst. of Mod. Europe, 
vol. ii. period ii. sect, i. p. 75 seqq. 



112 THE FIRST PARTITION OF POLAND, 1772* 



with ultimate failure, when sole Emperor, after his mother's 
death). Austria increases in wealth and resources during 
the peace following the Seven Years' War, interrupted only 
"by the short War of the Bavarian Succession, 1778 (conse- 
quent on the death of Maximilian Joseph, the last of the 
Electoral line), against Prussia and Saxony concluded by 
the Peace of Teschen, 1779^ in which Austria gives up her 
claim to Bavaria, receiving the district between the Salza, 
the Inn, and the Danube, and thereby acquiring direct com- 
munication with her TjTolese dominions. By tlie First 
Partition of Poland, 1772 (a project originated by Hussia 
and carried out by her, Prussia and Austria, under Catharine 
II., Frederic II., and Joseph II.), Austria obtained, in addi- 
tion to the county of Zips, Galicia and Lodomiria ; while 
Prussia acquired the province of the Lower Vistula under 
the name of Western Prussia, and Russia seized by far 
the largest share, almost the whole of Lithuania. < The guilt 

of the three parties to the partition was very unequal. Frederic, the weakest, 
had most to apprehend, both from a rupture with his ally, and from the 
accidents of general war ; while, on the other hand, some enlargement 
seemed requisite to the defence of his dominions. The House of Austria 
entered late and reluctantly into the conspiracy, which she probably might 
have escaped, if France had been under a more vigorous government. 
Catharine was the great criminal. She had for eight years oppressed, be- 
trayed, and ravaged Poland — imposed a King on that country — prevented 
all reformation of the government — fomented divisions among the nobility 
— and, in one word, created and maintained that anarchy which she at 
length used as a pretence for dismemberment. Monstrous as the transaction 
was, it is evident that, whoever first proposed it, Catharine was the real cause 
and author of the whole. This blame, which she was daring enough to take 
on herself, will blacken her memory in the eyes of the latest posterity ; and 
should any historian, dazzled by the splendour of her reign, or more excus- 
ably seduced by her genius — her love of letters — her efEorts in legislation — 
and her real services to her subjects, labour to palliate this great offence, he 
will only share her infamy in the vain attempt to extenuate her guilt.' * — 
E. E. 



* For an admirable summary of the history of the three partitions of 
Poland, read the beautiful article whence the above is extracted in the 
Edinb. Rev. vol. xxxvii. for Nov. 1822. It is given entire in that most useful 
book, Maurice Cross's Selections from the Edinb. Rev, vol. ii. p. 243-292. 
There is another article bearing on the same subject, ' The Appeal of the 
Poles,' in the Edinb. Rev. vol. xxii. No. for Jan. 1814. There is a fine 
article on the Empress Catharine II. in the vol. called Historical Studies, by 
Heim. Merivale, from which I have given an extract in the Appendix. 



THE HOUSE OF LORRAINE AND FREDERIC II. 113 



Deatli of Maria Theresa. Joseph II., lier son, sole 
SSmperor; 1780. Sweeping reforms introduced by the 
Emperor both in Church and State : edict of universal tole- 
ration to all forms of religions except the Deists; 1781. 
Emancipation of the Jews j abolition of the begging orders 
of Friars, and closing of a vast number of monasteries ; all 
Papal bulls declared void unless endorsed by the ^placet 
regium/ and the monastic orders subjected to the authority 
of the bishops. Equally violent and sweeping reforms ex- 
tended to the State, meeting everywhere with the like 
opposition ; feudal vassalage abolished ; freedom of the 
Press established ] a university and schools founded in each 
province ; reforms in courts of justice ; abolition of the 
punishment of death, and edict promulgated for the regu- 
lation of the Taxes. * ' The Emperor Joseph II. , a sort of philosopher- 
king, than whom few have more narrowly missed greatness, made a desperate 
effort to set things right striving to restore the disordered finances, to purge 
and vivify the Imperial Chamber. Nay, he renounced the intolerant policy 
of his ancestors, quarrelled with the Pope, and presumed to visit Kome, 
whose streets heard once more the shout that had been silent for three cen- 
turies, " Evviva il nostro imperatore!" But his indiscreet haste was met 
by a sullen resistance, and he died disappointed in plans for which the time 
was not yet ripe, leaving no result save the league of princes which Fre- 
derick II. of Prussia had formed to oppose his designs on Bavaria.' — B?-. 

J'nrmattan, at the instance of the King of Prussia, of tljt 
^rrmaufc ^nton, or Confederation of the Princes and 
States (^Deutscher Fiirstenhund^) 1785; 'for maintaining the 

indivisibility of the Germanic body in general, and of the respective States 
in particular ; which, under the pretext of preserving the constitution of 
the Empire, became a formidable bar to the encroachments of the House 

of Austria,'-(7. PRUSSIA ENDEAVOURS HENCE- 
FORTH TO MAKE HERSELF THE CENTRAL 
POINT OF THE GERMAN FEDERAL SYSTEM; 
and is considered, by her party in Germany, to be so. 

Discontent in Hungary, and insurrection of the Nobles 
against the reforms that the Emperor attempted to intro- 
duce. Unfortunate war with the Turks, 1788-1791 ) who 
ravage the Banat and part of Hungary j the Emperor him- 

* Read Coxe, vol. iii. eh. cxxiv., or Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxxxviii. ; and 
particularly the Essay on Joseph II. in Merivale's Historical Studies ; from 
whichi see extract in Appendix. 

I 



1 14 WAR WITH THE TURKS, AND REVOLT OF BELGIUM. 



self defeated at Caransehes near Temesivar ; but tlie honour 

of Ms arms is retrieved by tbe Prince of Coburg and Marshal 

Laudon, aided by the Russians under Marshal Suwarrow^ 

who win the victories of Fotzcthi and Rynmihy ' a stupendous 
victory over the G-rand Vizier and a vast and ill-organised multitude,' ^nd 

retake Belgrade. Eevolt in Belgium^ owing to the innova- 
tions introduced by the Emperor j the revolted provinces 
declare themselves independent^* and expel the Austrian 
troops. Eevocation of the Reforms lately promulgated in 
Hungary j restoration of the constitution of the coimtry that 
had been disregarded since 1765 ; joy of the Hungarians at 
receiving back the crown of St. Stephen that had been 

carried to Vienna. ' Conquered at last, Joseph had to withdraw reforms 
and restore privileges with even greater precipitation than he had evinced 
in the first part of his reign. His revocation in 1789 of his unconstitutional 
acts affecting the kingdom of Hungary was perhaps the most painful sacri- 
fice he ever made. " Non de nobis sine nobis ' was the proud maxim of the 
Hungarian magnates, and they now enjoyed to their hearts' content the vic- 
tory of obstinate conservatism over the reforming autocrat. They returned 
to the full inheritance of their venerable and most obstructive constitution. 
The saying attributed to Thiers, that " self-government means the privilege 
of doing badly for yourself what others could do well for you," seems as if it 
were uttered on purpose for this chivalrous nation. The liberated Magj^ars 
made bonfires of all the plans, drawings, and registers of the attempted land- 
surveys, drove away the police, and obliterated the street numbers which 
had been painted on their houses. Philosopher as Joseph was, or thought 
himself, his compulsory abandonment of one outward sign of Empire by 
restoring to Buda the Crown of Hungary, which he had in an arbitrary way 
removed from it, seemed to inflict on him the heaviest blow of all. He could 
not survive his broken hopes and outraged authority. By whatever name Ms 
last disease might pass in the physician's catalogue, the true cause, a broken 
heart, was plain enough to all. " Here lies Joseph II." (is his well-known 
self -composed epitaph), "who failed in everything he undertook." They 
were the words of disappointment, not of truth. It is not too much to say, 
that, if his people would have allowed their sovereign to carry into execution 
his designs, which they called his dreams, Austria would now have been the 
most powerful and happiest of European communities.' — Her. Mer. H. S. 
The Emperor on hearing that even the peasantry, on whom he had 
attempted to bestow such immense benefits, had risen against him, ex- 
claimed, "I shall die; I must be made of wood if this does not kill me!" 
and three weeks after he expired, after revoking his most important reforms 
for the sake of avoiding having recourse to extreme measures. He died at 
Vienna in 1790, as .Jellenz observed, " a century too early," and, as Remer 
said, " mistaken by a people unworthy of such a sovereign." ' f — M. 



* Read Coxe, vol. iii. ch. cxxix. 

t Read, on the character of Joseph II., Coxe, vol. iii. ch. cxxiv., and 
Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxxxviii. 



JOSEPH II. OF AUSTRIA AND FREDERIC WILLIAM II. 115 



During tlie latter part of this monarcli's reign^ tlie Frencli 
l^evolution * commenced. Execution of Louis XVI. of 
France, wliose wife was tlie beautiful and accomplished 
Maria Antonia, daughter of Maria Theresa and sister of 
Joseph II. (named by the French Marie Antoinette) j 1793. 
His marriage had been solemnised when he was the Dau- 
phin^ in 1770. 

Death of Frederic II. of Prussia ; 1786. * The mixed cha- 
racter of human nature seldom affords, when all its propensities are drawn 
out by circumstances, any proper theme for the entire and unqualified praises 
of a moralist ; but everything is pardoned to Maria Theresa when she is 
compared, as she must constantly be, with her great rival Frederic. Errors 
and faults we can overlook when they are those of our common nature ; 
intractability, impetuosity, lofty pride, superstition, even bigotry, and 
impatience of wrongs, furious and implacable — all these, the faults of Maria 
Theresa, may be forgiven, may at least be understood. But Frederic had no 
merits, save courage and ability : these, great as they are, cannot reconcile 
lis to a character with which we can have no sympathy ; of which the be- 
ginning, the middle, and the end, the foundation and the essence, was entire, 
unceasing, inextinguishable, concentrated selfishness.'! — >S'. J^q jg suc- 
ceeded by 

rrederic William 11. (his nephew), King: of Prussia; 

1786 ; in whose weak and irresolute policy, the government 
of Prussia being entrusted to weak and incompetent mini- 
sters, who encouraged the King's fondness for the fair sex^ 
his inclination to bigotiy, and his belief in apparitions, and in 
whose profuse expenditure, may be traced the germ of the 
disasters that soon overtook the kingdom. J * Though the death 

of Frederic the G-reat, occurring in a period of profound quiet, nroduced no 
immediate perceptible consequences, as his successor retained his ministers, 
yet the chasm he left Avas far too great for those consequences not to disclose 
themselves soon. The chief relations of Europe had been formed by his 
mind, and maintained by his character ; but the latter was inherited by his 
successor still less than the former. And Frederic had never formed a minis- 
ter who was competent to take the direction.' — B. M. 

coMM3£:^ciiMs::^T, ahout this tii^s, of 

THE KEVOliUTlOM-iiiair EI^A, mvi^ "ht ^vittn 

* For a brief abstract of the leading events of the French Revolution, and 
the wars that arose from it, see my Analysis of the History of England and 
France, p. 102 seqq. edit. 6th. Longma,ns and Co. 

t Ptead, on the other side, Carlyle's Frederic the Great. 

X Read, on the character of Frederic William II., Menzel, vol. iii, 
eh. ccxxxix. 

I 2 



116 COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA. 



from ft^t tStKi^ at g^vttstvit l^t (Bxtut; 1786. ' Though the 

death of Frederic the G-reat was not an event that constituted a general 
epoch, it was, however, immediately followed hj those great convulsions of 
States which gave the ensuing period a character so different from the f oi - 
mer. The contemporary world, Avhich lived in it, calls \i the revolutionary ; 
but it is yet too early to decide with what name it will be denoted by- 
posterity, "after the lapse of a century. Probably the constitutional; for 
the struggle after regular but free constitutions is the thread that guides us 
through the whole confusion.' — H, M, 

Xieopold IT, (brother of tlie late Emperor Joseph II.), 
Smperor 5 previously King of Bohemia and Himgary ; 
1790; restores tranquillity throughout his dominions by 
abolishing the violent changes introduced by Joseph II. 

' His successor, Leopold II., abandoned the projected reforms, and a calm, 
the calm before the hurricane, settled down upon G-ermany, The existence 
of the Empire was almost forgotten by its subjects : there was nothing to 
remind them of it but a feudal investiture now and then at Vienna (real 
feudal rights were obsolete) ; a concourse of solemn old lawyers at Wetzlar 
engaged upon interminable suits ; and some thirty diplomatists at Eegens- 
burg, the relics of that Imperial Diet where a hero -king, a Frederic or a 
Henry, enthroned amid mitred prelates and steel-clad barons, had issued 
laws for every tribe from the Mediterranean to the Baltic' — Br, The 

Emperor recovers the Netherlands from the insurgents by 
force, occupying the country with his troops, and restores 
tranquillity by granting an amnesty and the confirmation of 
their respective constitutions, privileges, and customs to the 
several provinces ; 1791. 

The Conference of Pillnitz. League between the 
Emperor Leopold and Frederic William^ Eang of Prussia, 
against the French Revolution ; and declaration of their 
readiness to aid Louis XVI. The League was strongly 
opposed by the old ministers, Herzberg, of Prussia, and 

Kaunitz, of Austria ; 1791. ' Austria was insulted in the person of 
the French Queen, and, as head of the Empire, was bound to protect the 
rights of the petty Rhenish princes and nobility, who possessed property and 
ecclesiastical or feudal rights on French territory, and had been injured by 
the new constitution. Prussia, habituated to despotism, came forward as 
its champion in the hope of gaining new laurels for her unemployed army.' 
— M. ' A political structure,hke the ancient French, could hardly be thrown 
down at once, without injuring others. The first loss befel the German 
Empire, by the abolition of feudal rights. Several princes who had posses- 
sions in Alsace lost theirs, and the Emperor and the Empire took their part.' 
—H. M. 

Increasing violence of the Jacobin party in France : they 



LEOPOLD II. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM II. 



117 



determine to declare war against the Empire : reply of 

Kaunitz to their arrogant demand, ' that the Emperor should re- 
nounce all treaties and conventions directed against the sovereignty and 
safety of the French nation.' — C. 

DEPRAVITY AND DEGRADED CONDITION 
OF THE MINOR GERMAN COURTS DURING 
THE ABOVE PERIOD, FROM THE PEACE OF 
HUBERTSBURG, 1763, TO THE FRENCH RE- 
VOLUTION, 1789. Luxury, extravagance, waste, de- 
bauchery, and bad government run their course in Saxony, 
Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Ilesse-Cassel, Bayreuth, and in the 
Ecclesiastical States, Miinster, Spires, Liege, and Treves. 
Weimar and Baden, almost alone, among all the other petty 

States, present an honourable contrast. 'Meanwhile the most 
terrible abuses were committed in the minor States, where they attracted 
less notice. The follies perpetrated in almost all the petty countships, seve- 
ral of which were gradually raised to principalities, are perfectly incredible. 
The ecclesiastical estates were, if possible, worse administered than the tem- 
poral ones, and the ecclesiastical courts had long fallen into the lowest 
depths of depravity.' * — J/. ' National spirit and feeling seemed gone from 
princes and people alike.' — Br. 

Tlie last days of the Smpire approach. 'The princes, 

powerful or weak, great or petty, had each now assumed sovereign sway. 
The bond of union between them and the Empire became daily more and 
more fragile. Ratisbon, although still the seat of the Diet, was no longer 
visited by the Emperor or by the princes. All affairs of moment were trans- 
acted by the courts of Vienna, Berlin, Munich, &c. ; the members of the Diet 
occupied themselves with empty formalities, such as precedence at table, 
the colour, form, and position of their seats in the Diet. The Church played 
a most lamentable part : the ecclesiastical princes gave way to the most open 
profligacy, and Rome was deprived of her ancient support in the German 
Empire by the abolition of the Order of Jesus, and by the reforms of 
Joseph II. The cities had lost all political power. The Collegium of the 
Imperial free towns had lost all its influence. The Imperial Chamber of the 
Empire, which still sat at Wetzlar, far from guaranteeing the slightest legal 
protection to the German people, had gradually become completely absorbed 
with formalities ; and the same may be said of the Imperial Aulic Council 
at Vienna.' — M. ' But while thej^ talked, the heavens darkened, and the 
flood came and destroyed them all.' — Br. 

Ferment among the Jacobin party in Germany. Insur- 
rections and revolts of the peasantry in various places. 
Death of the Emperor Leopold II., February 27^ 1792, 



* Bead Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxli. 



118 



WAR WITH FRANCE, CIRC. 1792. 



* While the great tempest was gathering in France, Leopold himself was no 
more. In three days he was hurried by malignant dysentery to an untimely 
grave, leaving his dominions in a state of more serious danger than even 
when he assumed the reins of empire.' — M, 

Francis ZZ., son of Xaeopold ZZ., Bmperor ; 1792. 

§XKmt ^tdwct^ £Dar against ^u^trta, ' The Jacobins had 

now acquired the predominance in the second National Convention of 
France, and the subversion of the throne was the object in view. They felt 
that a foreign war was necessary for their projects (what policy could from 
this time have averted it ?), and Austria was their nearest aim. Louis XVL 
was obliged to yield ; and accordingly he declared war on Austria.' — H. M. 

The Austrians at first successful. The conduct of the 
war is committed by Francis TI. to his ally, Frederic 
William II. of Prussia, whom he promises to aid with 
detachments of Austrian troops. Ferdinand Duke of Bruns- 
wick leads a combined force of Prussians and Russians, 
reinforced by Hessians and French emigrants ujader Conde, 
across the Rhine j invades Champagne and takes Longwy 
and Verdun ; July 1792. His famous manifesto. He 
is defeated at Valmy by Dumourier and Kellermann, and 

forced to retreat. 'A retreat which dysentery, bad weather, and 
bad roads rendered extremely destructive.' — M. ' Thus was dissolved that 
splendid army which a few months before had entered France with such 
brilliant prospects, and by which, if properly directed, might have been 
achieved the deliverance of Europe from the scourge of democratic ambition. 
What a multitude of evils would such an early exertion have saved ; the 
French conscription, the campaign of Moscow, the rout of Leipsic, the blood 
of millions, the treasures of ages! ' — A. F. R. 

Battle of Jemappes (defeat of the Austrians under Albert 
Duke of Saxe-Teschen,* son-in-law of Maria Theresa, and 
Stadtholder of the Austrian Netherlands, by Dumouriez) ; 
conquest and plunder of the Austrian Netherlands by the 
French. Mayence taken by the French ; 1792. 

DECLARATION OF WAR AGAINST FRANCE-, 

' after that France had declared war against England (for refusing to re- 
cognise the EepubHc).' PSRST COikZsZTZOZ^ AGAZKTST 

FRiLTffCE OF THE GERMiiW EMPIRE, AITS- 

THIA, PRUSSIA, KOZiZiiLra-B, SPiLIKT, FOl^TU-p 

GAIi, TUSCiL^Jir, SAI^BXSrXA, and E3»'GIi A.XS'D ; 

1793. 'As the founder and the head of these combinations, history 
has only to mention William Pitt. His name lives in the aimals 
of G-reat Britain, and in the history of Europe.' — H. M. ' The sove- 



* Many letters, addressed to Christina (wife of Duke Albert and daughter 
of Maria Theresa) by her sister Marie Antoinette, wife of Louis XYI. of 
France, have lately been discovered and published. 



FRANCIS 11. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM II. 119 



reigns of Europe prepared for war and formed the first great coalition, at 
whose head stood England, intent upon the destruction of the French navy. 
The Spanish and Portuguese troops crossed the Pyrenees ; the Italian 
princes invaded the Alpine boundary ; Austria, Prussia, Holland, and the 
G-erman Empire threatened the Rhenish frontier ; while Sweden and Russia 
stood frowning in the background. The whole of Christian Europe took up 
arms against France, and enormous armies hovered, like \Tiltures, around 
their prey. Meanwhile the French had armed themselves with all the terrors 
of offended nationalism and of unbounded intoxicating liberty. All the 
enemies of the Revolution within the French territory were mercilessly ex- 
terminated ; the King was guillotined in the Januar}^ of 1793, and the Queen 
shared a similar fate in the ensuing October. AVhilst Robespierre directed the 
executions, Carnot, in the midst of this immense fermentation, calmly con- 
verted France into an enormous camp, and more than a million Frenchmen, 
as if summoned by magic from the clouds, were placed under arms.' — M. 

The allies capture Valenciennes. The French general 
Custine executed. 

[During this year^ 1793, t%t ^tmxOS ^Kxiitim Qi i90lanlj 

by Prussia and Eussia only. ' Austria, at this time fully occupied 
with France, had no participation in this robbery, which was, as it were, 
committed behind her back.' — M. 'Prussia acquires Thorn, Dantzig, and 
Great Poland or Southern Prussia (Posen and Kalisch).' Grallant re- 
sistance of the Poles, under Kosciuszko, against the Prussian 
and Kussian armies, during the next year ; storm of Cracow 
by the Prussians under King Frederic William II., and of 
Praga, the suburb of Warsaw, by the Russians under Su- 
warrow ] 1794. Third and final Partition of Poland by 
Russia, Austria, and Prussia ; 1795 ; ' by which Austria gains 

Western Galicia, ^vith Lublin and Cracow ; Russia, Coiirland, Lithuania, and 
Volhynia ; Prussia, Warsaw, Bialystock, and their territories.' — 0. C. T, 
* The Vistula to separate Prussia and Austria ; the Bug, Austria and Russia ; 
and the Niemen, Prussia and Russia.' — P.] * 

War of tlie First Coalition ag-aisist Trance t from 
1793 to tlae Treaty of Campo Formio, 1797, in- 

clading the re-conquest of the Netherlands by the Austrians, 
and defeats of the French at Aldenhoven and Neerivi7iden 



* Read, on the three Partitions of Poland, the Reviews, referred to in note 
on the year 1772 ; and for a connected histoiy of the Second Partition and 
its consequences, Alison's Hist, of ihe French Revol. vol. ii. ch. xvii. For a 
brief sketch, Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccxlviii. p. 174, and ch. ccxlix. p. 184. 

t On the whole of this period, from 1789-1815, Alison's work, Hist, of the 
French Revolution, is well known. Besides Menzel's History of Germany^ 
Lockhart's two very pretty volumes. Life of Napoleon, in the Family Library , 
will, as a work of moderate compass, well repay the reader. The chapters 
on the period in Knight's Fop. Hist, of England are very clear and graphic, 
fchough. DiOt so full as those in the Pictorial Hist, of England, 



120 WAR WITH FRANCE: DEFECTION OF PRUSSIA. 



and defection of Dumourier; the defence of Dunkirk by 
Hocke ; Ms defeat of the Austrians in Alsace ; re- organisa- 
tion of the French army by Carnot^ and defeats of the Aus^ 
trians under the Duke of Coburg by Joui^dan at Wattignies 
and FleuruSy and of the English under the Duke of York at 
Hondschoote : the Netherlands re-conquered by France. 
Conquest of Holland by the French under Pichegru. Cam- 
paign on the Middle and Upper Khine ) indecisive battles of 
Kaiser slautern \ 1793 and 1794. 

^tinixmx of iSrtij^^ia from Cnalttinit. Prussia con- 
cludes the separate Ptac^ of %^^\t with France.* ' The seeds 

of dissension had already sprung up among the allies. Besides the. distrust 
of Austria and Prussia, there was in the case of Prussia an exhaustion so 
rapid and complete that it can hardly be explained even by the extravagant 
management of Frederic William II. Not a fourth of the army had been 
used, and yet before quite two years were passed, debts had taken the place 

of a full treasury.'— //. i/. The French are victorious on the 
Spanish frontier. Ea^^ 0f Itii Ijaiil^ 0f ll)e Ml^iite. 
Austria is left almost alone to maintain the struggle against 
France ; Sardinia and Tuscany, and England (by sea), her 

only allies. ' The Empire slothfully cast the whole burden of the war 
on Austria. Many of the princes were terror-stricken by the French, whilst 
others meditated an alliance with that power, like that formerly concluded 
between them and Louis XIY. against the Empire. Bavaria alone was, but 
with great difficulty, induced to furnish a contingent.' — M. Separate 

Peace concluded by Tuscany and Spain with the French 
Republic. The Lower Khenish provinces frightfully plun- 
dered by the French. Successful campaign of the Austrians 
under Clairfait and Wurmser on the Rhine against the 
French under Moreau and Jourdan j 1795. 

THREEFOLD ATTACK ON AUSTRIA BY THE 
ARMIES OF THE FRENCH DIRECTORY at the 

suggestion of Carnot. < Austria remained unshaken, and, conscious of 
the righteousness of the cause she upheld, she intrepidly stood her ground, 
and ventured her single strength in the mighty contest, which the campaign 
of 1796 was to decide. The Austrian forces in Germany were commanded 
by the Emperor's brother, the Archduke Charles ; those in Italy by Beaulieu. 
The French, on the other hand, sent Jourdan to the Lower Rhine, Moreau 
to the Upper Rhine, Buonaparte to Italy, and commenced the attack on 
every point with their wonted impetuosity.' — M. Campaigns of the 

* On the Treaty of Basle, and the secret articles it contained, read Menzel, 
vol. iii. oh. ccxlix. p. 187. 



FRANCIS II. AND FPwEDEPJC WILLIAM II. 121 



Archduke Charles against Moreau^ Jourdan^ and Bemadotte. 
The French advance as far as the frontiers of Bohemia^ and 
levy enormous contributions on the Suabian and Franconian 
circles^ and pillage the country without mercy. Great 
hopes entertained of the Archduke Charles.* Victoiy of 
the Archduke at Kloster-AUenberg^ and of the French at 
Rothensee mid Wildbad : decisive victories of the Archduke 
at Bamhei^g and Wurzhurg over Jourdan; advance of Moreau 
into Bavaria ) victory of the French over the Bavarians under 
General Latour at Lechhausen ; enormous contributions 
levied by the French on Bavaria j Moreau's famous retreat 
through the Black Forest to avoid being cut off by the 
Archduke; 1796. 

NAPOLEON'S CAMPAIGN DUEING THE SAME 
YEAK, 1796, IN ITALY ; agamst Beaulieu, CoUi, Al- 
vinzi, and Wurmser. Wurmser fails by dividing his forces. 
Victofies of Napoleon over the Austrians at Monte-NottCj 
Millesimo, Dego, Lodiy Lonato, Castiglione, Bassano^ Caldiero^ 
Rover edo^ A?'cola, and Rivoli. Conquest by the French of 
the whole of Lombardy, with the exception of Mantua ) 
1796. ' One campaign gave Napoleon Italy ; tlie second, peace.'— ^. M. 

Napoleon's Austrian Campaign, against the Archduke 

Charles. ' Napoleon pushed across the Alps to Vienna, while Hoche at the 
same time attacked the Lower and Moreau the Upper Ehine.' — M. Mantua 

capitulates. Repeated defeats of the Archduke Charles's 
numerically inferior forces. Napoleon advances through 
Styria upon Vienna ; gallant resistance of the Tyrolese^ who 
repulse Joubert with the loss of from 8^000 to 10^000 men, 
Venice taken by the French. Critical position of Napoleon, 
of which the Austrians fail to take advantage. < The Imperial 

court, stupefied by the late discomfiture in Italy, instead of regarding the 
proposals of the wily Frenchman as a confession of embarrassment, and 
assailing him with redoubled vigour, acceeded to them.' — M. The Saxon 

tr©ops recalled by the Elector from the Imperial army ] Sua- 
bia^ Franconia, and Bavaria^ intent upon making peace with 



* Niebuhr says Archduke Charles was like Pj^rrhus, better in winniBg a 
battle than conducting a campaign.—/. 0, L. 



122 



CONGRESS OF RASTADT, CIRC. 1797. 



France, eacli and all refuse to fiirnisli troops or pay a war- tax. 

* Thus the burden of the war on the Continent fell on Austria and the States in 

the South of Germany.'—^. M. Armistice and preliminaries oi Peace 
at Leohen : Peace formally concluded at Campo Formio* 

' The Netherlands, Italy, and the whole left bank of the Rhine, were aban- 
doned to the arbitrary rule of France. The triumph of the French Republic 
was confirmed, and ancient Europe received a new form. France gained the 
preponderance in Europe.' — M. ' In return for these sacrifices the Emperor 
received the republican city of Venice, with its continental territory as far 
as the Etsch, and was permitted to retain Istria and Dalmatia, which had 
been wrested from the Venetians by Austria during the armistice.' — P. ' In 
contemplating the fall of Venice, it is difficult to say whether most indigna- 
tion is to be felt at the perfidy of France, the cupidity of Austria, the weakness 
of the Venetian aristocracy, or the insanity of the Venetian people.' — A. 

1797. 

Frederic William III., Kin^ of Prussia (son of Fre- 
deric William II.) ; 1797. He maintains neutrality in the 
Coalition against France ; and endeavours by economy and 
reform to repair tlie waste and extravagance of his prede- 
cessor. 

Congress of Rastadt, 1797 — finally broken up t 1799. 
Tbe object of Talleyrand, tbe minister of tbe French lie- 
public, to sow disunion between Austria, Prussia, and the 
petty German States. Eapacity and tyranny of the French 

at this period. < The weakness displayed by the Empire, and the increas- 
ing disunion between Austria and Prussia, encouraged the French to further 
insolence. They garrisoned every fortification on the left bank of the Rhine, 
attacked, starved out, and razed, during time of peace, the once impregnable 
fortress of Ehrenbreitstein ; laid the Netherlands and Holland completely 
waste ; levied an enormous contribution on the Hanse towns ; divided the 
beautiful Rhenish pro\^nces into four departments ; revolutionised and pil- 
laged Switzerland ; remained ever faithful to but one principle— that of 
robbery ; and converted liberty, equality, and justice into mere fictions.' — M, 

England alone continues the war against France. 'England 

stood against the Continent ; with doubled power ; with doubled debts ; with 
doubled resources.'—^. M. Continuation of the Coyigress of Ra- 

stadt during 1798. 'Austria was employed in healing its wounds; 
Prussia, on the other hand, thinking to steer, in the general storm, between 
Scylla and Charybdis, persisted, with unshaken purpose, in its neutrality ; 
in the East was Russia, with un weakened vigour, not only aggrandised by 
the last Polish Partitions, but brought geographically nearer to the West.' — 
H. M, ' Austria felt that the moment was approaching when she might 



* The conditions of the Peace of Campo Formio are given at length in 
Heeren's Man. of the Pol. Stat. System of Mod. Europe, vol. ii. period iii. 
pt, i. p. 200, and in Alison's Hist, of the Fr. Revol. vol. iii. ch. xxiii. 

t Read on the Congress of Rastadt, Menzel, vol. iii. ch. cel. p. 202 seqq. 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDEEIC WILLIAM IJI. 



123 



regain her lost proyinces, restore her fallen influence, and oppose a barrier 
to tlie revolutionary torrent that was overflowing Italy. She had accord- 
ingly been indefatigable in her exertions to recruit and remodel her armies 
since the Treaty of Leoben. She had 240,000 men, supported by an immense 
artillery, ready to take the field, all admirably equipped and in the finest 
order, and to these were to be added 60,000 Russians, under the renowned 
Suwarrow, flushed with the storming of Ismail and Warsaw, and anxious to 
measure their strength with the conquerors of Southern Europe. Turkey 
had forgotten its ancient enmity to Russia, in animosity against France for 
the unprovoked attack upon Egypt, and its fleets and armies threatened to 
enclose the conqueror of the Pyramids in the kingdom he had won.' — A. 

SECOS^-B COAI.XTIOXJ AGAZUST FRASTCE (De- 
cember 29^ 1798) of Aiistria_, Russia, England, the Porte, 
and tlie two Sicilies. 

The French Directory declares war against the Allies^ 

January 25, 1799. ' The war had previously begun in Naples, which, 
was taken by Championnet, and converted by the French into the Parthe- 

nop^an Republic' The Congress of Rastadt finally broken 
up April 8; 1799; mysterious assassination of the French 
ambassadors on their return.* 

War of tbe Second Coalition ag-ainst France : 
from 1799-1302. The French under Scherer, Massena, 
Jourdan, Moreau^ Joubert, Macdonald, and Lecombe, 
against the allies under General Elra}^, who acted in Italy, 
the Archduke Charles, who protected Austria, and Suwarrow, 
who was to free Switzerland — defeats of the French at Stock- 
achj MagnanOj Legnano^ Cassano, Trebia, andNovi;f the allies 
regain nearly the whole of Italy^ except Genoa. Disagree- 
ment of Austria and Eussia. ' Dissensions now broke out among tlie 
victors. A fourth of the forces in Italy belonged to Austria, merely one-fifth 
to Russia : the Austrians, consequently, imagined that the war was carried 

on merely on their account.'— Jf. Separation of the Eussian and 
Austrian forces^ Suwarrow crossing the Alps to join Korsa- 
kow and drive the French out of Switzerland. Defeats of 
the Austrians at the St. Gothard Pass, the Simplm, the 
Furca, the Grimsel, and the DeviVs Bridge, by the French. 



* Read Menzel, vol. iii. ch. cclii., on the causes of this crime, 'which 
was,' as Hormayr, quoted in Menzel, observes, ' at the same time a political 
blunder.' 

t Read the graphic account of this obstinately-contested and bloody 
battle in Alison's Hist, of the Fr. Revol. vol. iv. ch. xxix. p. 119 seqq. 



124 



CAMPAIGN OF MARENGO, 1800. 



Defeat of Korsakow by Massena at Zurich. Vidwy of Su- 
warrow over tlie French at the St. Gothard, wliich. he forces 
in his retreat from Lecourhe and Massena ; Suwarrow's 

famous retreat over the high Alps. ' After enduring incredible 
hardships, Suwarrow, on the 1st of October, entered GlaruS-: there he rested 
until the 4th, when he crossed the Panitzer Mountains through snow two feet 
deep to the valley of the Rhine, which he reached on the 10th, after losing 
the whole of his beasts of burden, and 200 of his men, down the precipices ; 
and here ended his extraordinary march, which had cost him the whole of 
his artillery, almost all his horses, and a third of his men.' * — M. 

Joint expedition of the English^ under the Duke of York, 
and the Eussians to Holland j defeats of the French under 
Brune and Vandamme at Alkmaer and Bergen j indecisive 
battle of Haerlem, which the English fail to take j retreat of 
the allied forces, much reduced by sickness ; they disgrace- 
fully capitulate and evacuate Holland. Defeat of the Arch- 
duke Charles in a succession of petty battles at Heidelberg 
and on the Neckar by the French ; victory of the Austrians 
under Melas, over the French under Championnet, at Savi- 
gliano ; 1799. Return of Buonaparte from Egypt; Octo- 
ber 9, 1799. 

Campaign^ m t^c \xt):i pear, 1800, ai M^xtn^Q antf 

|]§0t)CltIiutfnT. Advance of Moreau across the Rhine into 

Alsace ; defeats of the Austrians under Kray, by the French 

under Moreau at EngeUy Moeshirchy and Biberach ; advance 

of Moreau as far as Ulm. Passage of the Great St. Bernard 

by the French under Napoleon ; the Austrians surprised by 

him, as the Romans by Hannibal ) taking of Milan ; defeat of 

the Austrians under Melas at Montebello. ' This was one of the 
most desperate actions which had yet occurred in the war. " The bones," 
says Lannes, " cracked in my division like glass in a hailstorm." ' — A. 

Disastrous retreat of the Austrian division under Greneral 
Ekiitz ; great and desperate battlt Of J¥tat£ngO and 
defeat of the Austrians under Melas and Ott by Napoleon. 

' This memorable battle was one of the most obstinately contested which 
had yet occurred during the war, one in which both parties performed pro- 



* Eead the very graphic account of this famous retreat in Alison's ^e^^ 
i>f the Fr. Revol. vol. iv. ch. xxix. p. 153, given in the Appendix. 



FRANCIS II. AND FEEDERIC WILLIAM III. 125 



digies of valour, and one which was attended with greater results perhaps 
than any conflict that had 3'et occurred in modern Europe. The victory 
gave the Republicans the entire command of Italy — a result of itself of vast 
importance ; but, coming as it did in the outset of Napoleon's career as First 
Consul, its consequences were incalculable. It fixed him on the throne, 
revived the military spirit of the French, and precipitated the nation into 
that career of conquest which led them to Cadiz and the Kremlin.'— .4. 

The bat tie won by a charge of'Kellermann. Loan of £2^ 000^ 000 
furnished by England to Austria : immense exertions of 
Austria ; levy in Hungary and Bohemia ; advance of the 
Austrian army into Bavaria under the Archduke John ; 
QTCtKthMlt af^a'^tnlintStn; defeat of the Austrians under 
the Archduke John by the French under Moreau the Aus- 
trians retire behind the Inn and fight a gallant battle, de- 
feating the French cavalry before Salzburg ; passage of the 
Spliigen by Macdonald ; battle of the Mincio and defeat of 
the Austrians under HohenzoUern by the French under 
Brune, December 26 j 1800. 

pru^^ta jfltuiS til i^t §,nxi\itx\i armcif nrntralftw 
acram^t ^nslaiitr ; aiitf occupied |^an0ber, antf l^t iianksf 
Df m e\U autf mtUx; 1801. 

Peace of Iiuneville, between Austria and France ; 

' subscribed by the Emperor Francis 11. in the name of the Empire as well 
as of Austria ; and by which Belgium and the left bank of the Rhine were 
again ceded to France ; the conditions of the Peace of Campo Formio con- 
firmed ; Venice guaranteed to Austria ; and an indemnity dictated by the 
French at the expense of secularised Imperial Church lands and mediatised 
Imperial free cities granted to the princes (Prussia, Hesse-Darmstadt, Ba- 
varia, Baden, and others) that had lost any of their dominions during the 

war.'— ^. *j^y t^t^ Cri^atp ^tt^^ ni iwttxxniwK^lt 
'niitnxts "mtxt ^o£dii m tlje tol^fll^ ^crmaittr fiotf^/ 'in 

the affair of the German indemnities, fixed at the Peace of Luneville, while 
all the spiritual princes, with the exception of the Chancellor of the Empire, 
were deprived of their seats, the temporal estates, being more or le&s favoured 
by France, shared their inheritance.' * — H. M. The EmperOT Fran- 

ds II. addresses a Letter of Apology to the Electors of the 
Em])ire, to excuse his signature of the Treaty \ f 1801. 

HBSTCSFORTH THIS OIbB €S-B5t^il.^ SMPZRH 
CSASSS TO ESIST. ' There was still a Geiman Empire left ; 

* The terms of the Peace of Luneville are given at length in Heeren's 
Manual of the Pol. Stat. Syst. of Mod. Europe, vol. ii. period iii. p. 251, and the 
list of the indemnities in Putz, Handhook of Mod. Hist. § 324 seqq. p. 161. 

t Bead Alison's Hist, of the Fr. Revol. vol. iv. ch. xxxii. p. 46o. 



126 NAPOLEON I. ElilPEROR OF THE FEENCH, 1804. 



but it was no more than an aggregate of States under foreign influence, 
with the Emperor as nominal sovereign.' — H, M. 

Benefits arising from tlie settlement of the indemnities, 
in tlie extinction of a number of tlie petty princely residences, 
•hotbeds of French vice and degeneracy,' tlie secularisation of tlie 
monasteries, ' those dens of superstition,' tlie mediatisation of tlie 

Imperial free towns^ ' the abodes of petty burgher prejudice,' and the 

clearing away the relics of effete feudalism. ' since 1797, when 

Austria at Campo Formio perfidiously exchanged the Netherlands for 
Venetia, the work of destruction had gone on apace. All the German sove- 
reigns west of the Ehine had been dispossessed, and their territories incorpo- 
rated with France, while the rest of the country was revolutionised by the 
arrangements of the Peace of Luneville, and the indemnities dictated by the 
French to the Diet. New kingdoms were erected, electorates created and 
extinguished, the lesser princes mediatised, the free cities occupied by troops 
and bestowed on some neighbouring potentate. More than any other change, 
the secularisation of the dominions of the prince-bishops and abbots pro- 
claimed the fall of the old constitution, whose principles had required the 
existence of a spiritual alongside of the temporal aristocracy.' — Br. 

[England continues the war against France till the Peace 
of Amiens; 1802.] 

Incessant efforts, during the period of peace, of the Arch- 
duke Charles to remodel and re-organise the army, and of 
the Archduke John to establish a national militia force. 

* During the scanty period of peace enjoyed by Europe, all strove, by apply- 
ing themselves to industry, trade, and navigation, to heal the wounds that 
had been inflicted ; and deep as tliey were, a few years of peace would have 
been sufficient. But peace did not eradicate distrust, the element of new 
strife, which soon received too ample support. England would not relinquish 
Halta, and with it the dominion of the Mediterranean, nor would France 
concede these points ; and the formal incorporation of plundered Piedmont 
showed the nations of the Continent that the national boundaries, on which 
80 much stress had been placed, were boundaries no more.' — H. M. 

NAPOLEON ELECTED HEREDITARY EM- 
PEROR OF THE FRENCH, May 18, 1804; crowned 
and anointed by Pope Pius VTI., December 2, 1804.* < The 

abolition of the French Republic, and the erection of France into an Empire, 
were viewed with distrust by Austria, whose displeasure had been, moreover, 
roused by the arbitrary conduct of Napoleon in Italy. Fresh disputes had 
also arisen between him and England : he had occupied the whole of Hanover, 
which Walmoden's army had been powerless to defend with his troops, and 



* Read the admirable remarks in Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, ch. xx. 
p. 393, 3rd ed., on the evident desire sho'UTi by Napoleon to be regarded 
as lawful Emperor of the West. The reader mil find two fine characters of 
Napoleon, one by Bonnechose, the other by Lord Brougham, extracted in 
my Analysis of English and French History, 7th edit., in the French portion 
of the History, under the years 1814 and 1821. 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM III. 127 



riolated fhe Baden territory by the seizure of the unfortunate Duc5'd'EngMen, 
a prince of the House of Bourbon, who was carried into France and there 
shot. Prussia offered no interference, in the hope of receiving Hanover in 
reward for her neutrality.' — M, 

THIRD COAIiITXO^ AGAmST FRAIS'CS OF 
ikUSTZtZA, RUSSIA, E37GIiA^B, AUZI SWEBSSIO', 
1305; PRUSSIA, TO HER OWN DISGRACE 

AND RUIN, REMAINS NEUTRAL, « Austria acted, un- 
deniably, on this occasion with impolitic haste : she ought rather to have 
waited till Prussia and public opinion throughout Germany had been ranged 
on her side, as, sooner or later, must have been the case, by the brutal en- 
croachments of Napoleon. Austria, unaided by Prussia, could scarcely dream 
of success. But England, at that time fearful of Napoleon's landing on her 
coast, lavished her aU-persuasive gold.' — J/. 

Napoleon takes possession of Hanoyer and commences 
the, so-called, Continental- System, prohibiting the introduc- 
tion of all British manufactures, &c., &c., into France, and 
wherever he had power to prevent their importation. 

Campaign ni ^\xiitt\itly* 1805, of the Emperor 
Napoleon in person, with his Marshals Ney, Massena, 
Davoust, Lannes, Soult, Bernadotte, &c., &c., against the 
Archdukes Charles, John, and Ferdinand, the Emperor 
Francis II., the Emperor Alexander of Russia, and his 
generals Kutosow, Bagration, &c. Napoleon violates the 
neutrality of Prussia by sending Bernadotte from Hanover 
across the neutral Prussian territory of Anspach. 'Most of all 

is Prussia answerable for the disasters of this campaign. She was clearly 
warned of her danger : the violation of the territory of Anspach had demon- 
strated in what manner she was regarded by the conqueror ; that he con- 
temned her menaces, despised her power, and reserved for her only the 
melancholy privilege of being last devoured. Then was the time to have 
taken a decisive part — then was the moment to have made amends for the 
vacillations of ten years, and, by a cordial union with Austria and Bussia, 
put a final stop to the progress of the enemy.' — A. 

The Archduke Ferdinand at the head of the Austrian 
troops in Germany ) the Archduke Charles at the head of 
the Austrian troops in Italy. Repeated defeats of the 
Austrians at the bloody battles of Me7mningen, Elcliingm, 
TrochteJfingeii \ Mack, cut off at Ulm, surrenders with his 



* On the resources, statistics, &c., &c., of the Austrian Empire at this 
period, read Alison's Fr. Rev. vol. v. ch. xl. 



128 



CAMPAIGN OF AUSTERLITZ, 1805. 



whole garrison. < Mack lost Ms senses, and capitulated on the 17ili of 
October, 1805. With Mm fell 20,000 (?) Aiistrians, the elite of the army, 
into the hands of the enemy. Napoleon could scarcely spare a sufficient 
mmiber of men to escort this enormous crowd of prisoners to France.' — M. 
' On that memorable morning, the garrison of Ulm, 30,000 strong, with sixty 
pieces of cannon, marched out of the gates of the fortress to lay down its 
arms. For five hours the immense array defiled before Mm — the men in the 
deepest dejection, the oflBcers in sullen despair, at the unparalleled disgrace 
that had befallen their arms. Klenau, &iulay, Gottesheim, Lichtenstein 
were there — names celebrated in former wars, and destined to acquire still 
greater distinction in those more glorious ones that followed.' — A. Gal- 
lant resistance of the Tyrolese peasantry against the French 
under Nej. Campaign of the Archduke Charles in Italy ; • 
defeat of Massena at Caldiero : the Archduke Charles retreats 
for the purpose of saving Vienna : defeats of the Austrians 
under the Prince Rohan at Castelfranco, and of Jellalich at 
the Lake of Constance. Defeat of the Austrians by the 
French under Davoust at Mariazell (in Styria). Occupation 
of Vienna by the French under Napoleon. The Russians 
under Kutosof advance into Moravia to aid the Austrians ; 
bloody and indecisive battle of Durrenstein, on the Danube^ 
between the Russians and the French under Mortier. Prus- 
sia is in vain urged by Austria and Russia to join the 
coalition ; indecision of Prussia^ though backed by England 

and Sweden. ' The King of Prussia, nevertheless, merely confined him- 
self to tMeats, in the hope of selling Ms neutrality to Napoleon for Hanover, 

and deceived the coalition.'— J/. Union of the Austrian and Rus- 
sian armies and GREAT BATTLE OF AUSTERLITZ, 
near Briinn^ December 2, 1805, also called ' the battle of the 

Three Emperors : ' ' the most glorious of all the victories of Napoleon ; 
that in wMch Ms military genius shone forth with the brightest lustre.' — A. 

Disgraceful Treaty of Prussia with France, directly after- 
wards. ' TMs both decided the policy of Prussia, and Haugwitz confirmed 
her alliance with Prance by a treaty, by which Prussia ceded Cleves, An- 
spach, and Neufchatel to Prance in exchange for Hanover.' — M. Peace of 

'Preshiirg, between Austria and France, ' purchased by Austria at 

an enormous cost ; — the terms, very briefly, being, the cession, on the part of 
Austria, of Venice and the Venetian territory to the new Idngdom of Italy, 
and the acknowledgment of Napoleon as King of Italy ; the cession of the 
Tyrol and Vorarlberg to Bavaria, and of the Imperial possessions in Suabia 
to the Electors of Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, all of whom were de- 
clared independent sovereigns, the two first with the title of King.' — P, 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM III. 129 



1805. ' A marvellous campaign, when we recollect that in the beginning 
of August the French army was still at Boulogne.'— 4. 

Creation of Kingdoms and Principalities by tlie Frencli 
Emperor Napoleon, at tlie expense, for the most part, of the 
Empire, and his Federative system of thrones and dignities 
in support of his own. Formation by Ifapoleon of tbe 
Confederation of tlie Rliine,"^ also called ' the Rhenish 
Alliance/ and BISSOI.XTTIOM" OP THIS C3-E2SmiLW 

ElvxpiRz: coz^px.]STi: bi^s^b of thb HOifir 

HOmA.'N ElVSPXRSr The Emperor Francis II. resigns 
the title of ^Emperor of Germany/ and henceforth assumes 

that of ^ Emperor of Austria ' only. * The Emperor Francis, partly 
foreboding the events that were at hand, partly in order to meet Napoleon's 
assumption of the Imperial name by depriving that name of its peculiar 
meaning, began in 1805 to style himself " Hereditary Emperor of Austria," 
while retaining at the same time his former title of " Eoman Emperor Elect." 
The next act of the drama was one in which we may more readily pardon 
the ambition of a foreign conqueror than the traitorous selfishness of the 
German princes, who broke every tie of ancient friendship and duty to 
gTovel at his throne. By the Act of the Confederation of the Rhine, signed 
at Paris, July 12, 1806, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Baden, and several other 
States, sixteen in all, withdrew from the body and repudiated the laws of the 
Empire ; while on August 1 the French envoy at Regensburg announced to 
the Diet that his master, who had consented to become the protector of the 
Confederate princes, no longer recognised the existence of the Empire. 
Francis II. resolved at once to anticipate this new Odoacer, and by a decla- 
ration, dated August 6, 1806, resigned the Imperial dignity. His deed states 
that, finding it impossible, in the altered state of things, to fulfil the obliga- 
tions imposed by his " capitulation," he considers as dissolved the bonds 
which attached him to the Germanic body, releases from their allegiance the 
States who formed it, and retires to the government of his hereditary do- 
minions under the title of Emperor of Austria. Throughout, the term 
" Germanic Empire " (3!)6Utfd^e^ 9^6td)) isemploj^ed. But it was the crown 
of Augustus, of Constantine, of Charles, of Maximilian, that Francis of 
Hapsburg laid down, and a new era in the world's history was marked by 
the fall of its most venerable institution : 1006 years after Leo the Pope had 
crowned the Prankish King, 1858 years after Ceesar had conquered at Phar- 
salia, the Holy Roman Empire ended.' f — Br. 

COMPLETE DISSOLUTION HENCEFORTH OF 
EVERY BOND OF UNION BETWEEN THE 
FORMER IMPERIAL STATES, AND THE DIET 
OF THE EMPIRE AND THE IMPERIAL CHAM- 



* Read, on this, the extract from Menzel, vol. iii. ch. ccliii. p. 235, given 
in the Appendix. 

t Read also the opening paragraphs in Bryce's Holy Roman Empire, to 
which I am indebted for the above quotation. 



130 



CAMPAIGN OF JENA, 1806. 



BER: A LARGE NUMBER OF BARONS AND 
COUNTS OF THE EMPIRE AND PETTY 
PRINCES ARE MEDIATISED, AND SUBJECTED, 
BY THE AID OF FRENCH TROOPS, TO MEM- 
BERS OF THE CONFEDERATION OF THE 
RHINE: THE IMPERIAL DIET AT RATISBON 
AND THE IMPERIAL CHAMBERS AT WETZ- 
LAR AND VIENNA ARE DISSOLVED. 

Prussia is compelled^ by France, to take possession of 
Hanover and to close lier ports against Britisli commerce : 
England declares war against Prussia on the occupation of 
Hanover, and avenges herself by reprisals on the Prussian 
marine, which suffers greatly. The insolent and overbearing 
conduct of France, and the unmeasured contempt shown by 
her for Prussia, leads Prussia to solicit the alliance of 
England, Russia, and Austria, and brings about 

THS FOURTH COilX.m;0^ A€S-AmST I^AITC^ 
of Prussia, Kussia, Saxony, England, and Sweden j 1806. 

' Prussia, by a timely declaration of war, before Austerlitz, mig-ht have 
turned the tide against Napoleon, and earned to berself the glory and gain, 
instead of being compelled, at a later period, to make that declaration under 
circumstances of extreme disadvantage. War was indeed declared , but with 
too great precipitation. Instead of awaiting the arrival of the Sussian 
troops, or gaining Austria, instead of manning her fortresses or taking 
precautionary measures, the Prussian army, with that of Saxony, which lent 
but compulsory aid, and with those of Mecklenburg and Brunswick, its 
voluntary allies, took the field without any settled plan, and, like Mack at 
Ulm, remained stationary in the Thuringian Porest, awaiting the appearance 
of Napoleon.' — M. 

Campais:^ nt ^tm; 1806. The Duke of Bruns- 
wick, the King of Prussia, Frederic William III., in person, 
Prince Louis of Prussia, Prince William of Prussia, the 
Prince of Hohenlohe, Ruchel, Bliicher, Tauenzien, the 
Prince of Orange, Marshal Mollendorf, and Schmettau, 
against Napoleon, in person, and his Marshals Lannes, Da- 
voust, Ney, Augereau, Miu'at, Bernadotte. 

The Prussian army cut off from its magazines at Hof and 
Naumburg, and from its reserve corps, through the incapacity 
of the Duke of Brunswick^ and the rapid march of Napoleon ; 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM III. 131 



repulse of Tauenzien near Weimar. <■ Napoleon, utterly astounded 

at the negligence of the Duke of Brunswick, exclaimed, whilst comparing 
him with Mack, "Les Prussiens sont encore plus stupides que les Autri- 

chiens." '—J/". Defeats of the Prussians under Prince Louis of 
Prussia at Saalfeld under Prince Holienlolie by Napoleon 
at tlie great battle of Jena, and of the Duke of Brunswick 

by Davoust at Auerstddt. « Two astonishing battles, which in one 
single day prostrated the strength of the Prussian monarchy, and did that 
in a few hours which all the might of Austria, Russia, France, in the Seven 
Years' War, had been unable to effect.'— ^. Capture of Erfurt witll 

14,000 men under Marshal Mollendorf ; disgraceful surrender 
of Stettin, Kiistrin; and almost all the important Prussian 
fortresses, with the exception of Colberg, bravely defended 
by Gneisenau, and a few other strong places ; infamous ca- 
pitulation of Magdeburg with a garrison of 22,000 Prussians 
under Kleist, and 800 cannon, to Ney with 10,000 French 
and a light field battery. Gallant retreat of Bliicher with 
his corps to Liibeck, and defeat in a bloody battle in the 
town of Liibeck ; he forces his way to the border of the 
Danish territory and there surrenders. Surrender of the 
impregnable fortress of Spandau and occupation of Berlin 

by the French. ' On the same day Marshal Davoust, agreeably to the 
promise of Napoleon, heasled the splendid vanguard, which, with all the 
pomp of war, entered Berlin. No words can describe the mingled feelings 
of rage, astonishment, and despair, which animated the inhabitants at this 
heart-rending spectacle, occurring in less than a fortnight after hostilities 
had commenced. With speechless grief they gazed on the proud array which 
defiled through their gates, and drank deep of the punishment for the politi- 
cal sins of their G-overnment during the last ten years.' — A. 

Seizure and confiscation of an immense amount of English 
property in Prussia by the French ; and enormous contri- 
butions, in all about £12,000,000 sterling, levied on the 
country. Silesia overrun by the French under Jerome 
Buonaparte and the troops of the Ehenisli Confederation 
imder Vandamme, who plunder the country : the fortresses 
are either surrendered or taken : advance of the French to 
the Vistula ; the conquered Prussian States as far as the 
Oder are divided into four departments by the French, and 
the whole country between the Phine and the Vistula occu- 
pied by them. Total prostration of Prussia. Publica- 
K 2 



132 WAll OF AUSTRIA AND RUSSIA AGAINST FRANCE. 



tion by Napoleon of tlie Berlin decree against British, com- 
merce ; treaty hetiveen France and Saxony , ' whereby it was 
stipulated that the Elector of Saxony, with all the minor princes of Saxcny, 
should become members of the Confederation of the Rhine ; that the Elector 
should receive the title of King, furnish a contingent of 20,000 men to the 
French army, and grant a passage at all times to French troops across his 
kingdom — a provision that sufficiently pointed Saxony out as a military 

outpost of the great nation.'—^. Xing Frederic William III.^ with 
the remnant of the Prussian army under L'Estoc^ retreats to 
Konigsberg and joins the Russians under Bennigsen ad- 
vance of the French into Poland, and occupation of Warsaw; 
bloody and indecisive hattles of Golymin and Pultush, Decem- 
ber 24 and December 26^ between the French and Eussians 
1806. 

AUSTRIA DURING THIS PERIOD REMAINS 
NEUTRAL ; and commences re-organising her army and 
replenishing her magazines and arsenals. 

Enthusiasm of the Poles in the cause of Napoleon : they 
reinforce his armies largely. ^ The selfish character of Na- 
poleon incapable of the generous policy of restoring the 
independence of Poland : when too late, he regretted his 
mistake.' — J. G. L. Activity of the Prussian corps under 
L'Estoc ; bloody hattles of Mohrungen and Landsberg, in 
which the French are worsted^ and of Leihstadt, in which 
the Russians are defeated. Terrible and indecisive 
battle of Preussiscli-Eylau, between Napoleon with his 
Marshals Davoust^ Murat, Augereau, and Ney, against the 
Russians under Bennigsen and the Prussian corps of L'Estoc, 
fought February 7 and 8^ amidst ice and snow, with fright- 
ful loss on both sides. ' Never was spectacle so dreadful as the field of 
battle presented on the following morning. Above 50,000 men lay in the 
space of two leagues, weltering in blood. The wounds were for the most 
part of the severest kind, from the extraordinary quantity of cannon balls 
which had been discharged during the action, and the close proximity of the 
contending masses to the deadly batteries which spread grape at half -musket 
shot through their ranks. Though stretched on the cold snow, and ex- 
]30sed to the severity of an Arctic winter, the sufferers were burning with 
thirst, and piteous cries v/ere heard on all sides for water, or assistance to 
extricate the wounded men from beneath the heaps of slain, or load of horses 
by which they were crushed. Subdued by loss of blood, tamed by cold, 
exhausted by hunger, the foemen lay side by side amidst the general wreck. 
The extremity of suffering had extinguished alike the fiercest and the most 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDERIC WILLlASi HI. 133 



generous passions.' Long siege and surrender of Dantzig^ 
defended by tlie Prussians, to the French 5 fall of the remain- 
ing Silesian fortresses ) bloody defeat of the French under 
Napoleon at Heilsherg by the Russians in conjunction with 
the Prussian corps under L'Estoc, and great and decisive 
defeat of the allied army of Russians and Frussians by 
Napoleon at Friedland : Conference at Tilsit between Alex- 
ander, the Emperor of Russia, Frederic William III., King 
of Prussia, and Napoleon : PEACE OF TILSIT ,\ 1807. 

Conditions, very briefly: — < Prussia loses half her territory, her pro- 
vinces between the Rhine and the Elbe being converted by Napoleon into 
the new Kingdom of Westphalia, which was given to his brother Jerome, and 
joined to the Rhenish Confederation ; her army restricted to 42,000 men; 
forced to pay an enormous contribution of 140,000,000 ff., and to admit 
French garrisons into her most important fortresses, and to join "the Con- 
tinental-System ; " $ ceding part of her Polish provinces to the Elector, now 
King, of Saxony (Napoleon's ally), under the title of the Duchy of "Warsaw ; 
and part of them to her late ally the Emperor of Russia.' — H. ' Russia also 
ceded Moldavia and Wallachia to Turkey. '§—/. G. L, Meanwhile the 

allied Russian and Prussian armies retreat; Konigsberg, 
defended by the Prussians under L'Estoc, is taken, and the 
allied armies retreat across the Niemen. 

PRUSSXA IS REDUCED TO THB RAUK OF A. 
SECOUB-l^iLTS POWER. ' The peace with Prussia, by which 
about half of the monarchy was returned as a gift of charity, reduced this 
country to ' a State of the second rank. But even the loss of territory was 
not so great a misfortune as the oppression it had to bear in the peace, and 
the most contemptuous treatment it had to receive from the haughty con- 
queror.'—^. M. 

DEPI.ORABI.S STATS OF GERMAId-lT AT 
THIS TIME ; 1807, 1808 ; THE PERZOB OF HER 
DEEPEST BEGRABATXON-. II AUSTRIA HUB£- 
BI.EB BIT THE CAMPAIGU OF AUSTER1.ITZ, 

* Any one who has seen, will not easily forget the heart-rending picture 
by Le Gros, in the Louvre, of Napoleon riding over the field among the dead 
and wounded. 

t The conditions of the Peace of Tilsit are given at length in Heeren's 
Man. of the Pol. State Si/.^tems of Mod. Europe, vol. ii. period iii. p. 280, and 
in Alison's Hist, of the Fr. Rev. vol. vi. ch. xlvi. p. 301. On the battle of 
Friedland, read Alison, same vol. p. 267 seqq. 

X Read, on the Continental-System, Heeren's J/awwa?, quoted above, p. 285, 
There is a brief notice of it in Menzel, vol. iii. ch. cclv. p. 254. 

§ See Brewer's Atlas, no. xii. 

{j Bead Menzel, vol. iii. ch. cclv. 



134 SUPREMACY OF FRANCE IN GERMANY. 

PR'D'SSm B-r THAT OF JSia-il. asid FS^IBBHiiLSin^, 
iLOTB THIS RBST or" C^SRMIAmir PI3TTE2&EI> TO 
raAKTCB THS BUlajeLRGBBHSmT Or- THE 

COSrFEl>13iaiLTI®Ii' ©F THB HHSSff^, iLUB BIT 
TH^ rOlTMBiLTlOK- OF THB KLSMGBOM ©F 
WBSTPHAIIiZiL iLT THE EXPlilffSE OF PRUSSZil., 
HiiMOVER, HESSE, il-IffB SlKUIirSWZCK. THB 
POWE1& OF FRAI^CE UUBER ITiLPOXiEO^ PRE> 

-nomz-mA-i^T over wea^s-it aiiZi the west 

OP EUHOPEo < G-ermany bowed in lowly submission before the genius 
of Napoleon ; Russia was bound by the silken chains of flatterj' ; England, 
Turkey, Sweden, and Portugal alone bade him defiance.' — M. ' French 
princes on the thrones of Holland and Italy ; Spain in alliance : from the 
Pyrenees to the Vistula French dominion, French law, and in the midst of 
peace, French armies:— where could any hope survive, unless it were in 

Britain?'-^. J/. EXTINCTION OF COMMERCE ON 
THE RHINE; DEGRADED CONDITION OF 
THE NEW KINGDOM OF WESTPHALIA, 
UNDER JEROME BUONAPARTE; EXACTIONS 
AND TYRANNY OF THE FRENCH IN THE 
STATES OF THE CONFEDERATION OF THE 
RHINE, WHO ARE FORCED TO FURNISH 
TROOPS FOR NAPOLEON'S WAR IN SPAIN ; 
WHILE THE KING OF PRUSSIA, WHO RE- 
FUSES TO SEND HIS TROOPS INTO SPAIN, IS 
FORCED TO PAY AN ENORMOUS CONTIN- 
GENT FOR NAPOLEON'S LATER WARS IN 
EASTERN EUROPE. 

Austria continues re-organising lier army wliile Napoleon 
is engaged in the Spanish war, and patriotism is resuscitated 
in Prussia by the institution of the ^ Tugendhund, a secret 
society whose object was silently to prepare a general insur- 
rection throughout Germany against Napoleon. Patriotic 
exertions of the Prussian minister Stein^ and of Arndt, 
Jahn, and Scharnhorst, to awaken patriotic spirit, and to re- 
organise, discipline, and increase the strength of the Prus- 
sian army by constantly introducing fresh troops into the 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM III. 135 



army ; influence of the national songs of the liberal-spiiited 
poets, Arnim, Tieck, and of the reviving study of the ancient 
German ballads, the Nibelungenlied, the Minnesanger, and 
the ancient chronicles. Ministry of Count Stadion in Aus- 
tria, establishment of the Landwehr^ and completion of the 
reforms of the army instituted by the Archduke Charles, 
who, with his brothers, the Archdukes John and Ferdinand, 
is placed at the head of the army, which is raised to nearly 
400,000 men. General effervescence in Germany. Congress 
of Erfurt between the Emperors Napoleon and Alexander, 
attended also by four Kings of the Confederation of the 
Rhine and a great number of princes ; Napoleon calls on 
Austria to disarm ; Austria^ encouraged by the continuance 
of the war in Spain, continues her preparations. 'After the 

experience already acquired at the Peace of Presburg, was Austria quietly 
to look forward to a fate like that sustained by Prussia at the Treaty of 
Tilsit ? And could it meet with any other if Spain should be subjected ? ' 
~H. M. 

War breaks out: TIFTH. COAliSTSOSS" OF 
SiATS-B, AUSTRIA, SPAZSf, ANH FOHTUGAXi 
AG-ASTTST FSSAOTCE 5 1809. Proclamation of the 
Archduke Charles to the German nation ; responded to only 

by the gallant Tyrolese. ' Though this was altogether an aggressive 
war on the part of Austria, it was a rightful aggressive war for breaking the 
chains she endured, and avoiding others yet more severe.' — H. M. Jlising 

of the Tyrol under Hofer, Haspinger, Spechbacher, and 
Teimar, aided by an Austrian force under Chastellar : they 
three times succeed in clearing their country of overwhelm- 
ing French and Bavarian armies under Lefebre, Baraguay 
d'Hilliers, Wrede, and other generals : meanwhile the great 
Campaign * is conducted by the Austrians, under the Arch- 
dukes Charles, John, and Ferdinand, and Marshal Hiller, 
against Napoleon and his marshals at the head of the troops 
of the Confederation of the Rhine, Bavarians, Saxons, 
Wiirtembergers, Poles, &c., with some French corps ; the 

* On the whole of this wonderful campaign, read Alison's Hist, of the Fr. 
Revol. vol. vii. chs. liii. liv. Ivi., and on the war in the TjtoI, ch. Iv. Of 
this latter a good sketch is given in Menzel, vol. iii. ch. cclvii. 



136 CAMPAIGN OF AUSTRIA AGAINST FRANCE; 1809. 



German armies in the Frencli service all commanded by 
French generals. Defeats of the Austrians on five successive 
days in the five battles of Pfaffenhofefij Thann, Ahensherg, 

Landshut^ Eckmuhl^ and JRatishon -perha-ps the most glorious 
triumph of Napoleon's surpassing tactics.' — M. Retreat of the Arch- 
duke Charles from Ratisbon, after a desperate cavalry action. 

' As the pursuing columns of Napoleon's army approached this imposing 
mass of the Imperial cavalry, they paused till the French horse came up in 
sufficient strength to hazard an engagement, A variety of charges of hus- 
sars then took place on both sides, with various success ; and at length the 
magnificent Austrian cuirassiers bore down with apparently irresistible 
force upon their pursuers. The French light horse could not withstand the 
shock, and were quickly dispersed ; but their cuirassiers came up, and then 
two rival bodies, equally heavily armed, equally brave, equally disciplined, 
engaged in mortal combat. So vehement was the onset, so nearly matched 
the great strength of the combatants, so tremendous the conflict, that both 
parties, as if by mutual consent, suspended their fire to await the issue : the 
roar of the musketry subsided, even the heavy booming of the artillery 
ceased, and from the m^lee was heard only, as from the battles of the knights 
of old, the loud clang of the swords ringing on the helmets and cuirasses of 
the dauntless antagonists. The sun set while the contOvSt was st ill undecided ; 
the moon rose on the deadly strife, and amidst her silvery rays fire was 
struck on all sides by the steel upon the armour, and dazzling sparks fiew 
around the combatants, as if a thousand anvils were at once ringing under 
the blows of the forgers. Nothing could overcome the heroic courage of the 
Imperialists ; but their equipment was not equal to that of their opponents, 
and in close fight the Austrian horsemen, whose front only was covered, 
were not an adequate match for the cuirassiers of Napoleon, whose armour 
went entirely round their body. After a desperate struggle, their numbers 
were so reduced that they were unable any longer to make head against the 
enemy, and, leaving two-thirds of their number on the field, they were 
driven in disorder along the chsussee towards Ratisbon. But their heroic 
stand, however fatal to themselves, proved the salvation of the army.' — A. 

Bloody battle at Ehelsherg, defeat of the Bavarians and 
French by the Austrians, under Marshal Hiller ; Napoleon 
enters Vienna ; dreadful battles of Aspern arid JEsslingy 'the 
first great action in which Napoleon was defeated.' Meanwhile, cam- 
paign of the Archduke John in Italy j great defeat of the 
French under Eugene Beauharnais by the Austrians under 
the Archduke John at the battle of Sacile on the TagHa- 
mento ; and fruitless insurrection of S chill * and the Duke 
of Brunswick in the North of Germany. Ketreat of th© 

* Read Menzel, vol. iii. ch. cclvi. p. 273, and the three ballads beginning, 
' Es zog aus Berlin ein tapfrer Held,' &c., ' eine Eiche,' &c., and 'Klaget 
nicht, dass ich gef alien,' &c., entitled ' Schill's Geisterstimme ; ' Nos. 64, 65, 
gfi, in a very pretty volume called Lieder vom Deuischen Vaterland,hj Katl 
Simrock; Fraiakfort, 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDEEIC WILLIAM III. 137 



Frencli under Napoleon to tlie Island of Lobau ; defeat of 
the Austrians under the Archduke John by the Trench 
under Eugene Beauharnais (the Yiceroy of Italy) at the 
battle of Raah : junction of the forces of Eugene with those 
of the grand army under Napoleon^ and defeat of the 
Austrians under the Archduke Charles at the bloody and 
obstinately contested battle of Wagram ; retreat of the 
Austrians to Znaim j truce of Znaim and ^tVLtt nl S^i^nua, 
During ihe above period^ Campaign of the Austrian army 
under the Archduke Ferdinand in Poland , he captures 
Warsaw; but is driven back by the Poles under Poniatowski, 
who recapture Warsaw, and take Cracow. Wonderful 
retreat of the Duke of Brunswick from Saxony to England. 

Ter?7lS of the Peace of Vie7ma : * ' very briefly, Austria is forced to 
cede a large part of the Tyrol to Bavaria, and another part to Italy, the 
Illyrian provinces to France, Western G-alicia to Saxony, to join the " Con- 
tinental-System," and to break off all relations with England, and pay a 
contribution of 3,000,000?. to France, and to reduce her army.' — 0. C. T. and 
P. ' By the Peace of Vienna, Austria lost territories containing 3,500,000 
inhabitants,' — A. ' and 2,000 square miles of territor5^' — /. G. L, 'At the 
close of the year, the Continent was again in a state of tranquillity, with 
the exception of the Peninsula of the Pyrenees ; but what a fallacious tran- 

quiuity ! '—H. M. Destruction of the ancient ramparts of Vienna 
by the French ; the gallant resistance of the Tyrolese finally 
extinguished by overwhelming French armies \ capture and 
execution of Hofer^ 1809. 

All the North of Germany from the Wesel to Liibeck^ the 
Hanse towns^ Bremen^ Hamburg^ and Liibeck^ with Lower 
Saxony and a portion of the Elagdom of Westphalia^ incor- 
porated with France ; receiving French laws and French 
governors. The troops of the Rhenish Confederation serve 
in Napoleon's armies in Spain and suffer frightfully in the 
Peninsular War J I while the Hanoverian legion^ composed of 
Hanoverian and other German refugees in England^ serves in 



* The terms of the Treaty are given at length in Heeren's Man. vol. ii. 
p. 290, and in Alison, I. I. 

t ' The most implacable hate, merciless rage, the assassination of pri- 
soners, plunder, destruction, and incendiarism, equally distinguished bot^ 
sides.' — Menzel, vol. iii. ch. cclviii. p. 298. 



138 INVASION OF EUSSIA BY NAPOLEON; 1812. 



the Duke of Wellington's army against the French and up- 
holds the Spanish cause. Marriage of Napoleon with Maria 
Louisa ; Prussia and Austria are alike drained of their 
treasures and resources by the contributions enforced by 
Napoleon ; (§rcat ^^tiannl ^auferuptn) of ^uitxm. 

' Exhausted by her continual exertions for the maintenance of the war, the 
State could no longer meet its obligations, and on March 15, 1811, Count 
Wallis, the minister of finance, lowered the value of 1,060,000,000 of bank 
paper to 212,000,000, and the interest upon the whole of the State debts to 
half the new paper issue. This fearful State bankruptcy was accompanied 
by the fall of innumerable private firms ; trade was completely at a stand- 
still, and the contributions demanded by Napoleon amounted to a sum almost 
impossible to realise. Prussia, too, especially suffered from the drain upon 
her resources.' — 31. 1810. 

jfr0nT t^t^ timt tiatt^ f^t ^ttUnt at ^apokon'^ jjntDcr. 

The GREAT RUSSIAN WAR of Napoleon involves 
Austria and Prussia^ and the Confederation of the Rhine. 
Alliance heUoeen Austria and France concluded March 14, 
1812 ; Austria to furnish 30^000 men. Alliance between 
France and Prussia^ February 24^ 1812 j Prussia to furnish 
20,000 men and immense supplies for the French army. 

* The situation of Austria in the impending contest was less dangerous, 
because it lay beyond the sphere of French influence ; but so much the more 
desperate was the situation of Prussia. The grand route of the war lay 
through the midst of its provinces, and its utter ruin seemed inevitable. 
The obligations of all the princes of the Confederation of the Rhine towards 
their protector admitted of no doubt : they had no option.' — H. M. 

Invasion of Russia by Napoleon ' with a grand army of 
500,000 men. But of this prodigious armament only 200,000 were native 
French : the remainder were Germans, Italians, Poles, Swiss, and Austrians, 
whom the terror of the French arms had compelled, however unwillinglj*, 
to follow their banners.' P. W. 

During the campaign^ the troops of Austria under 
Schwarzenberg, and those of Prussia under General York, 
suffer little, comparatively -with the troops of the Con- 
federation of the Khine, which are nearly exterminated. 
At the conclusion of the campaign, General York, instead 
of obeying Napoleon's order to cover the retreat of the 

* On the great Russian Campaign of Napoleon, the fullest account is 
given in Alison's Hist, of the Fr. Revol. vol. viii. chs. Ixvii. Ixviii. There is 
a very good and graphic account in Lockhart's Life of Napoleon {Family 
Lib.), and a brief sketch in Menzel, vol. iii. ch. cclix. Read al>o Segur s 
Expedition to Russia. ' Segur has been compared to Tacitus.' — /. G. L. 



WAR OF THE LIBERATION OF GERMANY; 1813. 189 



left wing of the Frencli army under Macdonald, concludes 

a Treaty of Neutrality with the Russians under General 

Diebitsch. « Of the grand army of Napoleon, suffice it to say that of the 
hundreds of thousands who had crossed the Niemen with him, scarcely as 
many thousands returned, and of these how few were capable of bearing 
arms I The army of the tyrant, half dead, half captive, existed no longer : 
he himself, in a miserable sledge, and unknown, escaped death, if not shame, 
to carry the first news of his defeat to his capital.' — H. M. 1812. 

RESURRBGTZOU OF GSHMiLN-ST, 1813, after 
Napoleon's retreat from Russia. GRSAT COA- 

IiXTXOM OP PRUSSIA, RUSSIA, SWBBEI«J, EITG- 
ZiAMB, and AFTBRWARBS AUSTRIA, A€S-AmST 
FRASffCE. Manifesto of Frederic William III.^ King of 
Prussia^ calling upon his people to rise against the French ; 
Treaty of Kalisch, and alliance offensive and defensive 
between Frederic William III. of Prussia and Alexander, 

Emperor of Russia. < The hour for vengeance had at length arrived. 
The whole Prussian nation, eager to throw off the hated yoke of the 
foreigner, to obliterate their disgrace in 1806, to regain their ancient name, 
cheerfully hastened to place their lives and property at the service of the 
impoverished government. The whole of the able-bodied population was 
put under arms. The standing army was increased ; to each regiment were 
appended troops of volunteers, Jagers, composed of young men belonging to 
the higher classes, who furnished their own equipments ; a numerous Land- 
wehr, a sort of militia, was, as in Austria, raised, besides the standing army ; 
and measures were even taken to call out, in case of necessity, the heads of 
families and elderly men remaining at home, under the name of the Land- 
Sturm, or general muster of the people. The enthusiastic people, besides 
furnishing the customary supplies, and paying the taxes, contributed to the 
full extent of their means towards defraying the expense of this general 
axming.' — M. 

WAR OF THE X^IBERATIOTT OF GERSVEAWY.* 

Battles of Lutzen^ also called battle of Gross-Gorschen, and 
Bautzen (gained by Napoleon over the allies under Wittgen- 
stein and Blticher) ; hattle of Hemau (defeat of the French 
under General Maison by the Prussians). Armistice of 

BleiSWitZj ' perhaps the greatest political fault, after the Spanish ulcer and 

* For a brief narrative of this wonderful war, and the negotiations, alli- 
ances, &c., &c., tha,t preceded it, read Menzel, vol. iii. chs. cclx-cclxii. The 
accounts in the Pictorial Hist, of England and in Knight's Pop. Hist, of 
England, vol. vii. ch. xxxii., are very interesting; and for a minute and de- 
tailed narrative, Alison's Hist, of the Fr. Revol, vol. ix. ch. Ixx. seqq. Lock- 
hart's Life of Napoleon and the Student's Hist, of France have been before 
referred to. 



140 WAR OF THE LIBERATION OF GERMANY I 1813. 



the Austrian matcli, of Napoleon's life,'— and Congress of Progm, 

lasts two montlis^ but ends unsatisfactorily. Austria joins 

the alliance against France. ' The allies made the best use of the 
breathing time allowed them by the armistice. A subsidy of 11,000,000?., 
granted by England, enabled them to equip at least 600,000 men, who formed 
three divisions ; viz. 1. The grand army of Bohemia under Schwarzenberg, 
in whose camp were the three allied monarchs and G-eneral IVloreau. 2. The 
army of Silesia under Bliicher. 3. The army of the North, under the Crown 
Prince of Sweden, Bernadotte.' — P. ' Besides these, there were the Austrian 
forces in Italy under Hiller ; the Russian and Austrian reserves in Poland 
and Austria ; the corps employed in the siege of Dantzic and of the fortresses 
on the Oder. The whole was estimated at 700,000 to 800,000 men.'— ^. M. 

Frightful sufferings at this period of the town of Ham- 
burg in French occupation under Davoust. Great battle of 
Dresden * (victory of Napoleon over Schwarzenberg ; death 

of Moreau). < Napoleon had achieved at Dresden the last of his great 
victories. That triumph was followed within a very few days by signal 
reverses sustained by his marshals.'—^. P. H. battle of the Katzbach 

(defeat of Macdonald and Souham by Bliicher). 'it was on 

this battle-field that the Silesians had formerly conquered the Tartars, and 
the monastery of Wahlstatt, erected in memory of that heroic day, was still 
standing. Bliicher was rewarded with the title of Prince von der Wahlstatt, 
but his soldiers henceforth surnamed him Marshal Vorwarts. The French 
lost 103 guns, 18,000 prisoners, and a still greater number in killed : the loss 
on the side of the Prussians merely amounted to 1,000 men (?). Macdonald 
retmiied almost totally unattended to Dresden, and himself brought the 
intelligence to Napoleon, — "Votre armee du Bobre n'existe plus."' — M. 

Battle of Culm (defeat of Vandamme by Ostermann and 
ETleist) ; tattle of Grossheeren (defeat of Oudinot by Berna- 
dotte) ; battle of Dennewitz (defeat of Ney by Biilow^ Tauen- 

zien, and Bernadotte). 'These defeats materially weakened the large 
French armies that had marched into G-ermany in April. They were still 
more weakened by sickness and starvation. They had exhausted the re- 
sources of Saxony, and men and horses were without food.' — K. P. H, 

Great losses of the French during the above period in par- 
tisan warfare ; exploits of the irregular bands of Liitzow 
and others. Betreat of the French^ who abandon the line 
of the Saale and the Elbe^ and concentration of their forces 
at Leipsic in conjunction with the Saxon troops under the 
King of Saxony. Great battle of Iieipsic, October 16, 
18, and 19, 1813 (* bie S5ol!erfd)lad)t ^ ; defeat of Na- 



* There is a very interesting account of this battle in Sir Kobert Wilson's 
Private Journal, vol. ii. p. 94 seqq. 



FRANCIS ir. AND FEEDERIC WILLIAM III. 



141 



poleon : ' his army amounted in all to rather more than 170,000 men, 
including French, Saxons, Poles, Hessians, Badeners, and other troops of the 
Confederation of the Rhine, under himself and his subordinate commanders 
Mm^at, Marshals Berthier, Nej?, Mortier, Victor, Marmont, Macdonald, 
Augereau, Poniatowsky, and Cenerals Bertrand, Lauriston, Regnier, and 
Souham, as well as the cavalry generals Latour-Maubourg, Sebastiani, 
Arrighi, Kellermann, and Milhaud ; ' — H. M., |)y tlie united forces 

Of the allies, Austrians, Kussians, Prussians, and Swedes. 

* The decisive battle of three days' duration on the plains of Leipsic unri- 
veted the fetters of Germany, and dashed to the gi'ound the already rocking 
edifice of Buonaparte's universal dominion : its ruins only remained in the 
occupied fortresses of Hamburg, Magdeburg, &c. If the mass of combatants 
engaged in the field (amounting to almost half a million) makes it the first; 
battle of modern history, it v/as no less so for its important consequences. 
A fraction only of the army reached the Rhine, after a flight similar to that 
from Moscow, and most of those were infected with a contagion which 
swept them away by thousands.'—^. M. Deatll in the battle of 

Prince Poniatowsky j * and desertion, during the battle, of 
Napoleon's side by the Saxon forces, which go over to the 
allies. Napoleon retreats with the remains of his army, of 
which about 70,000 alone reach and cross the Rhine at 
Mayence ) hattUj during his retreat, of Hanau (defeat of the 
Bavarians under Wrede by Napoleon): — Bavaria had al- 
ready seceded from the Confederation of the Khine, and 
made an alliance with Austria. 

Dissolution of 

the Confederation of the Rhine, of the Kingdom of Westphalia, and the 
Grand-duchies of Frankfort and Berg. 2. The surrender of all the French 
garrisons except Hamburg. 3. The re-conquest of Holland, the Dutch rising 
at the same time against the French, by Billow, and proclamation of the 
Prince of Orange as sovereign of the Netherlands. 4. Invasion of Denmark 
(in alliance with Napoleon) by Bernadotte, and forced surrender by Den- 
mark of Norway to Sweden. 5. Restoration of the TjtoI and Illyria to 
Austria. 6. Alliance of Murat, King of Naples, with Austria for the expul- 
sion of the French from Italy. 7. Treaty of Neutrality with Napoleon 
formed by Switzerland, as yet too weak to throw off the French yoke.' — P. 
' The victory of Leipsic made the German war in the fullest sense a popular 
war. The princes, and with them the nations (according to German usage), 
arose, and threw off the chains of the Confederation of the Rhine. Even be- 
fore the victory Bavaria gave the signal : "Wlirtemberg, Baden, and the rest 
followed. Every one that could bear, seized arms ; the plough and the work- 
shops were abandoned ; the lecture-rooms and the counting-houses were 
deserted ; even young women, dissembling their sex, hastened in arms to the 
ranks of the combatants, while matrons, undismayed at contagion or death, 
nursed the sick and wounded. Long will their memory live in the history 



* Read Beranger's beautiful ballad, PoniatowsM, beginning ' Quoi, voua 
fuyez,' &c., &c. 



142 INVASION OF FRANCE BY THE ALLIES; 1814. 



of Germany, as an example to future generations.' — H. M. The princeS 
of the Confederation of the Rhine, now broken up, secure 
their hereditary dominions by a timely secession from Na- 
poleon. < The Kings of Westphalia and Saxony, the Grand-duke of Frank- 
fort, and the Princes of Isenburg and von der Ley en, who had sinned too 
heavily against Germany, were alone excluded from pardon. The King of 
Saxony was at first carried prisoner to Berlin, and afterwards, under the 
protection of Austria, to Prague. Denmark also concluded peace at Kiel, 
and ceded Norway to Sweden, upon which the Swedes, quasi re bene gestd, 

returned home.'— J/. Bliicher with his army crosses the Rhine 
at Mannheim, Caub, Coblentz, December 31, 1813. Decla- 
ration previously, December 1st, of the allied sovereigns at 
Frankfort ] peace offered to Napoleon ) the boundaries of 
France to be the Rhine, the Alps, and the Pyrenees j re- 
jected by Napoleon. 

XI^'VikSXON' OF FRAN'CZ: THIS ARI^ZES OT 

TKi: iLZiZiZBS, JAMriTARTr ISl^. * The three great armies, 
amounting to more than 500,000 men ; the grand army of Schwarzenberg ; 
the army of Silesia under Bliicher ; the army of the North under Bernadotte, 
including the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian reserves ; the Austrians in 
Italy under Bellegarde ; the British and Portuguese under Wellington in the 
South of France, the Anglo-Sicilians and the Spanish armies about Catalonia ; 
the total was a mass of 1,028,041 men acting against the French Empire; 
against whom Napoleon could hardly muster 400,000 men, including those 
blockaded in the fortresses on the Elbe, the Oder, in Italy, in Holland, the 
army under Eugene in Italy, in Bearn under Soult, in Catalonia under 
Suchet, at Lyons under Augereau, and with Napoleon himself, the corps of 
Victor, Marmont, Mor^-nd, Macdonald, Mortier, and Ney.'— J.. 

GDampai'p of tfte ^lUtU f^rrnks m jfrantc, 

on the lines of the Seine and the Marne. Battles of Brienne 
and La Rotliiere (Napoleon defeated by the Prussians under 
Bliicher). Separation of the allied armies: famous cross- 
march of Napoleon ; battles of Champauhert and Montmirail 
(the Russians under Sacken and Olsoofief defeated by Na- 
poleon). Congress held at Chatillon^ but without granting a 
truce from Feb. 3 to March 13, 1814 ; comes to nothing. 
Battle of ChdteannThierry (defeat of the Prussians under 
York by Napoleon) ; hattte of Vauchamp (defeat of the 
Prussians under Bliicher by Napoleon) ; advance of the 
grand army under Schwarzenberg and the allied sovereigns 
along the Seine to Fontainebleau j Napoleon falls upon its 



FRANCIS II. AND FEEDERIC WILLIAM III. 143 



scattered corps — disastrous consequences of Schwarzenberg's 
mistaken system ; battle of Nangis (defeat of tlie Russians 
under Palilen by Napoleon) ; battle of Villeneuve-le- Cointe 
(defeat of the Austrians under Wrede by Napoleon) ; obsti- 
nately contested and bloody battle of Montereau (defeat of 
the Austrians under the Crown Prince of Wiirtemberg by 
Napoleon) ; r^toat flf t^e ^antr arm^ to Bar-sur-Aube, 

' Although, the decisive moment had arrived, and Schwarzenberg had simply 
to form a junction with Bliicher to bring an overwhelming force against 
Napoleon, the allied sovereigns and Schwarzenberg resolved, in a council of 
war held at Troyes, upon a general retreat.' — M. ' They even commenced 
fruitless negotiations for an armistice, and the fate of Europe was again at 

stake.'— ^. M. Treat]) of Cliaumont between the four Allied 

Towerb^ March 1st, 1814. ' Napoleon's confidence in his good destiny 
led him to reject the terms which he probably might have obtained at Cha- 
tillon, and he would not forego the condition that the Rhine should be the 
frontier of France. The four Powers saw that only a firm agreement among 
themselves would prevent a peace which would throw away all the successes 
which they had obtained.'— ^. P. ZT. ^galLlllt a^baUC^ 0f t^^ 

^tan ^rmi) Xtntfer ^lUC^t^f^ ' Blucher resolved at all hazards to 
obviate the disastrous consequences of the retreat of the allied army, and, in 
defiance of all commands, pushed forward alone.' — M. Bloody skir- 
mishes at Bar-sur-Auhe and Gidllotiere (defeat of the French 
under Oudinot and Macdonald by a portion of the grand 
allied army under Wittgenstein, Pahlen, and Wrede). Ob- 
stinately contested and bloody battle of Craon (Napoleon 
against the Russians and Prussians under Blucher, Sachen, 

and Woronzow). 'The most ten-ible struggle, if v^e except Albuera 
and Culm, of the whole Revolutionary war, and one in which it is hard to 
say to which side of the heroic antagonists the palm of victory is to be 
awarded. The loss on both sides was enormous, and, save at Albuera, unpre- 
cedented, in proportion to the numbers engaged.' — A. Battle of Imoti 

(defeat of Napoleon by the Prussians and Russians under 

Blucher, Btilow, and Winzingerode) j successes of Prince 

Eugene on the Po j defeat of Augereau at Limonet^ and fall of 

Lyons , recapture of Rheims by Napoleon ; indecisive battles 

of Arcis-sur-Aube (between Napoleon and the grand army 

under Schwarzenberg) march of Napoleon on St. Dizier to 

intercept the communications of the allies. < Napoleon confi- 
dently expected that his diminished armies would be supported by a general 
rising en masse, and that Augereau would form a junction with hi in : in this 
expectation he threw himself to the rear of the allied forces, and took up a 



144 CONGRESS OF VIENNA; 1814. 

position at Troyes with a view of cutting them off, perhaps of surrounding 
them by means of the general rising, or, at all events, of drawing them back 
to the Rhine.'-if. Battle of St. Dizier (defeat of Winzingerode, 

who had followed Napoleon thither) : tj^ allirtf Kxmiti 

form a 3utTctt0n antf inarcf) upon pari^; the two battles 

of Fere-Champenoise (defeat of Marmont and Mortier^ and 

total destruction of the corps of Pacthod by the allies under 

Schwarzenberg and Blticher) ; battle close to Paris and 

storming of the heights of Montmartre by the allied a n ies ; 

THS AlililllS IIMTBR PiiwRZS ; MARCH 31, laift. 

Treaty of Fontainehleau between the allies and Napoleon, 

who abdicates at Fontainehleau and retires to Elba, April 

11th. PEACE OF PARIS, BETWEEN FRANCE 

AND THE ALLIES : France reduced to her boundaries, 

in 1792 ; and allowed to retain Alsace and Lorraine, ' of 

which she had at an early period deprived G-ermany ; * Austria assenting on 
the condition of Italy being placed exclusively under her control.' — M. 

Visit of Frederic William III., King of Prussia, and of 
Alexander, Emperor of Russia, to England, accompanied by 
their generals, Blticher, PlatofF, and others. COITGRSSS 
OP VlElM-OTik, from November 1, 1814, to May 25, 1815 ; 
attended in person by the Emperor of Austria, the Kings of 
Prussia, Bavaria, Wui'temberg, and Denmark, the Emperoi 
of Russia, and numerous German princes and grand-dukes, 
and the great statesmen Metternich, Hardenberg, Nessel- 
rode, Humboldt, and Castlereagh ; long and wearisome 

negotiations. 'Le Congres danse, mais il n'avance pas.' Return 
of Napoleon from £lba ; March 1, 1815. ' The news of 
Napoleon's return fortunately reached the Congress while still sitting. This 
rendered the most speedy and decisive measures needful, and they were 
accordingly adopted. By a special act the usurper was declared the enemy 
of nations, and to have forfeited the protection of the laws ; and all the 
powers, both great and small, immediately entered into a firm combination 
against him. The fortune of war might waver ; but his final overthrow 
seemed inevitable ; for the princes could now depend on the hearty con- 
currence of their respective nations.'—//. M. 

W^t Cnngrc^^ of Witmm at last ftratisSt Xq a rnnclu* 

* Referred to in Arndt's well-known ballad of Was ist des Deutschen Vaier- 
land, in the stanza : 

* Ist, was der Fursten Trug zerklaubt, 
Yom Kaiser und vom Reich geraubt ? * 
See above, under the years 1734 and 1766. 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM III. 145 



iSlOll by the news of Napoleon's escape from Elba. * vom le 
Congrbs dissous ! ' Its results,* as far as Germany was con- 
cerned, were, very briefly : ' l. That Belgium and HoUand should 
constitute one kingdom, the Stadtholder of Holland being created King of 
" the Kingdom of the Netherlands." 2. That Austria, in return for the 
cession of Belgium and West G-alicia, should gain the Lombardo-Venetian 
provinces (Venice, Milan, and the Yaltellin), Ferrara, Piacenza, the lUj^rian 
provinces, with Dalmatia, Ragusa, and Cattaro, the Tyrol, and Salzburg. 
3. That Prussia should gain the G-rand-duchy of Posen with Dantzic and 
Thorn ; part of the Duchy of Warsaw ; Swedish Pomerania and Riigen from 
Denmark, in exchange for Lauenburg ; the restoration of her ancient pos- 
sessions in Westphalia and Neufchatel ; the Rhenish provinces, lost in 1795 
and since that date ; and part of Saxony, 4. That Bavaria, in return for 
the provinces again ceded by her to Austria, should receive the province of 
Wiirzburg with AschafEenburg and the Upper Rhenish Pfalz, under the title 
of Rhenish Bavaria. 5, That Hanover should receive East Friesland, hitherto 
dependent on Prussia. 6. That the Electorates of Hesse, Brunswick, and of 
Oldenburg should be restored. 7. The substitution of a Germanic Confedera- 
tion for the ancient German Empire.' t 

ENORMOUS FORCES, amounting to not less tban 
986,000 men, RAISED BY THE ALLIES, on the news 
of the escape of Napoleon from Elba : his attempts to open 
negotiations with the Emperors of Austria and Russia 
rejected. Three great armies formed for immediate opera- 
tions, Ist^ of Austiians and Bavarians under Schwarzenberg; 
2nd, of Prussians under Bliicher ; 3rd, of English, Hano- 
verians, and Belgians under Wellington ', England supplies 
subsidies, in all, of 11,000,000^. 

Campaig^n of the Prussian army under Bliicher, 

and of the English, Hanoverians, and Belgians under Wel- 
lington, in Belgium against the French under iSapoleon. 
Battle of Li<j7iy, June 16 (defeat of Bliicher, under whom 

served Billow and Ziethen, by Napoleon). ' The fight through- 
out the whole village of Ligny was now at the hottest : the place was literally 
crammed w^ith the combatants, and its streets and enclosures were choked 
up with the wounded, the dying, and the dead : every house that had escaped 
being set on fire was the scene of a desperate struggle : the troops fought no 
longer in combined order, but in numerous and irregular groups, separated 
by houses either in flames, or held as little forts, sometimes by one, some- 
times by the other party : and in various instances, when their ammunition 



* The results of the Congress of Vienna are given at length in Alison, 
Hist, of the Fr. RevoL vol. x., and briefly in Putz's Handbook of Mod, Hist, 
p. 183. See also Knight's Pop. Hist, of England, vol. viii. 

t See below, after the battle of Waterloo. 



14G BATTLES OF LIGNY AND WATERLOO ; 1815. 



failed, or when they found themselves suddenly assailed from different sides^ 
the bayonet, and even the butt, supplied them with the ready means for 
prosecuting the dreadful carnage with unmitigated fury. The entire village 
was concealed in smoke ; but the incessant rattle of the musketry, the crash- 
ing of burning timbers, the smashing of doors and gateways, the yells and 
imprecations of the combatants, which were heard through that misty veil, 
gave ample indication to the troops posted in reserve upon the heights, of 
the fierce and savage nature of the struggle beneath. In the meantime the 
relieving batteries on the Prussian side, which had arrived quite fresh from 
the rear, came into full play, as did also a reinforcement, on the French side, 
from the artillery of the Imperial guard. The earth now trembled under the 
tremendous cannonade ; and as the flames, issuing from the numerous burn- 
ing houses, intermingled with dense volumes of smoke, shot directly upwards 
through the light grey mass which rendered the village undistinguishable, 
and seemed continually to thicken, the scene resembled for a time some vio- 
lent convulsion of nature, rather than a human conflict — as if the valley had 
been rent asunder, and Ligny had become the focus of a burning crater. 

' Long did this fierce and deadly strife continue without any material ad- 
vance being made on either side. At length the French gained possession of 
a large house, as also of the churchyard, into which they brought forward 
two pieces of cannon. General von Jagow vainly endeavoured with the 7th 
regiment to retake this house. The first battalion of the 3rd Westphalian 
Landwehr displayed the most inflexible perseverance in its endeavours to 
drive the French out again from the churchyard : it made three unsuccessful 
attempts to cross an intervening ditch, and subsequently tried to gain a 
hollow way, which lay in the flank of that post, but falling upon the French 
reinforcements that Avere advancing towards it, they were compelled to 
abandon the enterprise. 

' Fresh victims were still required to satiate the " king of terrors," who 
might be said to hold a gala-day in this " valley of death." . . . 

' Notwithstanding their dreadfully exhausted and enfeebled state, and 
their knowledge that a body of fresh troops was advancing against them — a 
body, too, which they knew was invariably employed whenever some great 
and decisive blow was to be struck, the Prussians evinced not the slightest 
symptom of irresolution, but, on the contrary, were animated by the most 
inflexible courage. The sun had gone down, shrouded in heavy clouds, and 
rain having set in, the battle-field would speedily be enveloped in darkness : 
hence the Prussians felt that it required but a little more perseverance in 
their exertions, to enable them to counterbalance their deficiency of num-^ 
bers upon any point of their line, by a stern and resolute resistance ; sufli-' 
cient to secure for the entire of their army the means of effecting a retreat ; 
imattended by those disastrous consequences, which a signal defeat in the 
light of day might have entailed upon them.' — Sib. W. C. 

Battle of Waterloo, June IS (defeat of tlie French 
under Napoleon by the EnglisL. and Hanoverians under 
Wellington^ aided towards the close of the day by the 

Prussians under Bllicher), ' The Prussians, fired by enthusiasm, forgot 
the fatigues they had for four days endured, and, favoured by a moonlight 
night, so zealously pursued the French that an immense number of prisoners, 
and a vast amount of booty, fell into their hands, and Napoleon narrowly 
escaped being taken prisoner. At Genappe, w^here the bridge was blocked 
by fugitives, the pursuit was so close that he was compelled to abandon his 
carriage, leaving his sword and hat behind him. Blucher, who reached the 
spot a moment afterwards, took possession of the booty, sent Napoleon's hat, 



FRANCIS II. AND FEEDERIC WILLIAM III. 147 



sword, and star to tlie Eling of Prussia,* retained his cloak, telescope, and 
carriage for his own use, and gave up everything else, including a quantity 
of the most valuable jewellery, gold, and money, to his brave soldiers.' — M, 

Schwarzenberg at the head of the Austrian army during 
the above period enters France : defeat of the French under 
General Kapp at Strasbui'g by the Prince of Wiirteniberg : 
advauce of the Prussians and the English on Paris \ defeat 
of the French by the Prussians at Issy. Second occupa- 
tion of Paris by the iLllies, July 1815. Second 

Treaty of Paris,t M"ovember 1315; ' by which France is 
allowed to retain Alsace and Lorraine, but gives up four fortresses on 
the border ; and agrees to pay a contribution to the expenses of the war of 
700,000,000 ff., and to restore the works of art of which she had pillaged 

nearly every capital in Europe.'—^. Occupation of France by the 
troops of the allied sovereigns till 1818. Napoleon sur- 
renders to the English^ and is sent to St. Helena. 

THS3 G^BRMiLZir COlffFSSBHATZOSi- THU 

PZiiLCE QT THS AIffCSE2ffT EMPmiS. ' The ancient 
Empire, instead of being re-established, was replaced by a German Confede- 
ration, composed of thircy-nine German States that had escaped the geneial 
ruin ; the principal of which were Austria, Prussia, Bavaria, Saxonj^, 
Hanover, Wtirtemberg, Baden. Hesse, Darmstadt, Brunswick, Mecklenburg- 
Schwerin, and Nassau. On Frankfort-on-Maine a permanent Diet, consist- 
ing of plenipotentiaries from the thirty-nine States, was to hold its session. 
The votes, however, were so regulated that the eleven States of first rank 
alone held a full vote, the secondary States merely holding half or the fourth 
part of a vote ; as for instance, all the Saxon duchies collectively, one vote ; 
Brunswick and Nassau, one ; the two Mecklenburgs, one ; the petty princes 
of Hoheiizollern, Lichtenstein, Ptcuss, Lippe, and AValdeck, one ; all the free 
towns, one ; and so forth. Austria held the permaneiit presidency. All the 
members of the Confederation bound themselves neither to enter into war 
nor any foreign alliance against the Confederation or an}- of its members.. 
Another article declared,. " Each of the confederated States will grant a Con- 
stitution to the people." Another placed all Christian sects throughout the 
German Confederation on an equality. Another granted freedom of settle- 
ment within the limits of the Confederation, and promised uniforuiity of 
regulation concerning the liberty of the press.' X — 

The ACT OF CONFEDERATION signed June 8, 



* These trophies are still preserved in the Museum of the Arsenal at 
Berlin. 

t See Heeren's Manual of the Pol. Stat. Syst. of Modern Europe, vol. ii.. 
period iii. p. 356, for the particulars of this treaty. 

X The Articles of the Germanic Confederation and a list of the States com- 
posing it are given at length in Heeren's Man. of the Pol. Stat. Syst. of Mod. 
Europe, -vol. ii. period iii. p. 407 seqq. See also the sketch of the Germaji 
Confederation at the end of this work. 

L 2 



148 THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION AND HOLY ALLIANCE. 



1815^ but THE COWSTITUTIOW OP THE GER- 
miLNXC COia-FEBERATIOIf not PERFECTED till 
the Conferences of Vienna, DECEMBER 1819 to 
1820. 

' When Napoleon's universal monarchy liad dissolved, and old landmarks 
showed themselves again above the receding vaters, it was commonly sup- 
posed that the Empire would be re-established on its former footing. Such 
Avas indeed the msh of many States, and among them of Hanover, represent- 
ir.g Grreat Britain. Tlnough a simple revival of the Romano-Germanic 
Empire w^as plainly out of the question, it still appeared to them that G-er- 
many would be best off under the presidency of a single head, intrusted with 
tlie ancient office of maintaining peace among the members of the Confede- 
ration. But the new kingdoms, Bavaria especially, were imwilling to admit 
a superior ; Prussia, elated by the glory she had won in the War of Inde- 
pendence, ^vould have disputed the crown with Austria ; Austria herself 
cared little to resume an oflBce shorn of much of its dignity, with duties to 
perform and no resources to enable her to discharge them. * Use was there- 
fore made of an expression of the Peace of Paris which spoke of uniting 
Germany by a federative bond, and the Congress of Vienna was decided by 
the washes of Austria to establish a Confederation. Thus was brought about 
the present Germanic federal constitution, which is itself confessed, by the 
attempts so often made to reform it, to be a mere temporary expedient.' — Br. 

Territorial adjustment of the different States of 
Germany,* and tlie Wew Constitutions (most of them 
illusory boons) ; 1815 and 1816. Bitter disappointment of 
the hopes of the Liberal and Patriotic party throughout 
Germany ; suppression of the Turnschulen (the gymnastic 
schools established by Professor Jahn) and of the Burschen- 
schaften (Students' Clubs) throughout Germany. Persecu- 
tion of the Liberal party in Austria and Prussia ] suppression 
of the jRhenish Mercury and other patriotic newspapers ; 
arrest and suspension of Professor Jahn, Arndt, Fries, Gorres, 
and others, who had rendered distinguished services to 
their country during the War of Liberation ] emigration of 
many of the leading men of the popular party to America. 

The Holy Alliance between Austria, Prussia, 

Russia, 1815, joined by France, 1313. — ' nominally for 
the maintenance of peace, religion, and virtue, and the government of their 
subjects as parents ; in reality a league between the four sovereigns, Fran- 
cis il. of Austria, Frederic AVilliam III. of Prussia, Alexander, Emperor of 
Bussia, and Louis XYIII. , King of France, for mutual assistance and support, 
and maintenance of the principles of legitimacy.' — K. ConoTCSS of the 



* See Brewer s Atlas, no. xiii. 



FRANCIS II. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM III. 



149 



German sovereigTis held at Aix-la-Cliapelle^ 1818 ; at Trop- 
pau, 1820 at Laybacli, 1821 ; at Toplitz, 1833. Keturn of 
the Jesuits to Austria^ 1820. Intervention of the Austrians 
in Italy, 1821, against the Italian revolutionary party in 
Italy ; march of an Austrian army to Naples, under Count 
Waimoden; defeat of the revolutionists under General 
Pepe : restoration of the King of Naples. March of an 
Austrian army also to Piedmont, defeat of the revolutionary 
party there by the Austrians, and occupation of Genoa by 
their army. THi: ZOLL VEREIN, or German Customs' 
Union, first set on foot by Louis, King of Bavaria, 1825, 

* by a commercial treaty between him and William, King of Wiirtemberg. 
Tbis example was imitated by Prussia ; afterwards by Hesse, Hanover, 
Saxony, and the other German States, about 1828.' — M. 

Enportant Eeforyyxs introduced into Prussia from 1808- 
1812 by the Ba-ron von Stein and the Chancellor Harden- 

berg j viz. , < removal of restrictions on industry, equalisation of taxation, 
abolition of liereditary serfdom, the establishment of an approach to a re- 
presentative government, and other liberal measures.' Provincial es- 
tates, in 1823, substituted for those of the kingdom. In 
Austria, on the contrary, repressive and arbitrary measures 
are adopted through the influence of Prince Metternich j 
viz., restriction of the liberty of the Press, government sur- 
veillance of the Universities, &c., &c. 

of (Sermanp follow the French and Belgian Pevolutions of 
1830. Revolution in Brunswick \ Charles, Duke of Bruns- 
wick, is deposed, and his brother William elected in his 
stead. Constitutions * are extorted from the sovereigns of 
Saxony, Hesse-Cassel, and Hanover. 

Death of the Emperor Francis II. of Austria : he is suc- 
ceeded by his son, Ferdinand Z., Emperor of Austria, 



* On these, and the struggles of the Provincial Diets of the minor States 
in behalf of Eeform, freedom of the press, abolition of the censorship, 
and of imprisonment for political offences, die, &c., read Menzel, vol. iS, 
chs. ccLxx., cclxxi. 



150 TEN YEARS^ PERIOD OF TRANQUILLITY. 



3.S35. ' The absolute system rigidly maintained — no change is made in 
the antocratic and bureaucratic system of government of which Prince Met- 
ternich * continued to be the directing principle.' — P. and M. ' Apres moi 
le deluge ! ' ' But the deluge came in his time.' 

FJERIOD OF ABOUT TEN YEARS, DURING 
WHICH TRANQUILLITY PREVAILS OVER 
GERMANY: GREAT MATERIAL PROSPERITY 
OF THE COUNTRY. 

Deatli of Frederic William III. of Prussia : lie is suc- 
ceeded by Ms son, Frederic William IV., King- of Prus- 
sia ; t 1840. ' Important concessions to the Liberal Party immediately 
introduced — the relaxation of the censorship, the summoning of the provin- 
cial diets, every two (instead of every three) years, publicity of the courts of 
justice, an edict published respecting religious toleration, and the formation, 
out of the provincial diets, of a " United National Diet," with the power of 
contracting loans and imposing taxes, but with only the power of advising 

on questions of legislation.'— P. Railways opened in North Ger- 
many ; 1841. Progress in Prussia of Constitutional ideas, 
increasing passion for freedom and Constitutional Govern- 
ment^ and demands for Reform. 

RIOTS, ZrrSURZlSCTZOIiS'S, and RS'^OXaUTZOZa'S 
OP 18€b8, consequent on the French Revolution of this 
year. Popular outbreaks^ almost simultaneous, at Carls- 
ruhe, Stuttgart, Nassau, Cologne, and Munich, about the 
end of February and the beginning of March, ] 848 ; and a 
little later at Vienna and Berlin, about March 9 and 18. 

' still more serious and formidable (than in France) were the convulsions in 
G-ermanj^ ; for there were men inspired with the Teutonic love of freedom, 
and wielding the arms which so long had been victorious in the fields of 
European fame. So violent were the shocks of the revolutionary earthquake 
in the Fatherland, that the entire disruption of society and ruin of the 
national independence seemed to be threatened by its effects. Government 
was overturned after a violent contest in Berlin. It fell almost without a 
struggle, from the pusillanimity of its members, in Vienna. The Prussians, 
especially in the great towns, entered, with the characteristic ardour of 
their disposition, into the career of revolution ; universal suffrage was 
everj^where proclaimed — national guards established. The lesser States on 
the Ehine all followed the example of Berlin ; and an assembly of delegates 



* Eead ch. cclxxi. in Menzel, vol. iii. ' Austria and Prince Metternich' 
t On the whole of the period from the close of the War of Liberation till 

the Revolutions of 1848, read Alison's Eist. of Europe since 1815, vol. v. 

4)li. xxvii. 



FERDINAND I. AND raEDERiC WILLIAM lY. 151 



from every uart of the Fatherland, at Frankfort, seemed to realise for a brief 
period the 'dream of G-erman unity and independence. But while the 
enthusiasts on the Rhine were speculating on the independence of their 
country, the enthusiasts in Vienna and Hungary were taking the most 
efEectual steps to destroy it. A frightful civil war ensued in all the Austrian 
provinces, and soon acquired such strength as threatened to tear in pieces 
the whole of its vast dominions. No sooner was the central authority in 
Vienna overturned, than rebellion broke out in all the provinces. The 
Sclavonians revolted in Bohemia, the Lombards in Italy, the Magyars in 
Hungary ; the close vicinity of a powerful Russian force alone restrained 
the Poles in Gallicia. Worse, even, because more widely felt, than the pas 
sions of democracy, the animosities of Race burst forth with fearful violence 
in Eastern Europe. The standard of Georgey in Hungary — whom the Aus- 
trians, distracted by civil war in all their proAdnces, were unable to subdue 
— soon attracted a large part of the indignant Poles, and nearly the whole of 
the warlike Magyars, to the field of battle on the banks of the Danube. Not 
a hope seemed to remain of the great and distracted Austrian Empire. 
Chaos had returned ; society seemed resolved into its original elements ; and 
the chief bulwark of Europe against Muscovite domination appeared on the 
point of being broken up into several separate States, actuated by the most 
violent hatred of each other, and alike incapable, singly or together, of 
making head against the vast and centralised power of Russia.'— J.. Mod. 
Eur. 

Commencement of tumults and disturbances in 
Vienna, March 12 and 13; 1848. Prince Metternicli's 
palace sacked by tlie mob. Revolutionary disturbances in 
Bobemia and Hungary, under the influence of Kossuth. 
Revolt and fight in Prague ; the rebellion quelled after 
forty-eight hours' bombardment of the town by Prince 
Windischgratz ; Revolt of Hungrary % flight of the Em- 
peror, Ferdinand I., from Vienna, to Innsbruck ; Vienna in 
the entire possession of the Revolutionist Party : War com- 
menced in Hungary, under Kossuth, as Minister, and Count 
Louis Bathyany ; Georgey, Bern, and Dembinsky, generals : 
the Croatians, under their Ban Jellalich, remain faithful to 
the Emperor, and march on Vienna in aid of the Austrian 
army under Prince Schwarzenberg and Windischgratz ; 
bombardment of Vienna ; defence of the town by the insur- 
gents ; attempt of the Hungarian army to raise the siege ; 
battle of Schwechatj near Vienna ; defeat of the Hungarians 
under Georgey by the Austrians under Windischgratz ) sur- 
render of Vienna after a tierce defence ; October 31. The 
tQim again occupied by the Imperial troops. Abdication of 



152 



INSURRECTION IN BERLIN, 1848. 



tlie Emperor Ferdinand I., December 2, 1848, in faTOur of 
his, grandson^ Francis Joseph I., Emperor; grant of a 
new Constitution, of tlie most liberal kind. * Less violent in the 

outset, but more disastrous far in the end, were the means by which Austria 
was brought through the throes of her revolutionary^ convulsion. It was 
the army, and the army alone, which in the last extremity saved the State ; 
but, unhappily, it was not the national army alone which achieved the de- 
liverance. So violent were the passions by which the country was torn, so 
great the power of the rival races and nations which contended for its 
mastery, that the unaided strength of the monarchy was unequal to the task 
of subduing them. In Prague, indeed, the firmness of Windischgratz extin- 
guished the revolt ; in Italy the consummate talents of Eadetzky restored 
victory to the Imperial standards, and drove the Piedmontese to a disgrace- 
ful peace ; and in the heart of the monarchy, Vienna, after a fierce struggle, 
was regained by the united arms of the Bohemians and Croatians.' — A. M. E. 

Meanwhile, during the above period, March 18, 1848, 
Tumults and Riots in Berlin ; Proclamation of the King, 
Frederic "William IV., putting himself forward as the head 
of the liberal party \ renewed fight, and defeat of the Eoyal 
troops, and submission of the King ; grant of a new Consti- 
tution; April 2. Commencement of the Schleswig-Hol- 
stein dispute ; invasion of the Duchies by the Prussians, and 
battle of Diippel, indecisive ; and conclusion of an armis- 
tice. Eenewal of the riots in Berlin ; firmness of the Royal 
army under the command of Marshal Wrangel; the As- 
sembly is finally dissolved by force, and the Kin^ becomes 
completely master of tlie situation. Fresh Constitution 

proclaimed by the king, December 5. ' The Prussian army by 
its loyalty saved the cro%vn from destruction, and the people from the de- 
struction of liberty by democratic despotism. The constitution which their 
fidelity enabled the King to give them contained, as the event proved, at 
least as much liberty as they could bear : anything beyond it would have 
been nothing but republican tyranny.' — A. M, E. 

Violent outbreak, tumults, and insurrection, a little later 
in the same year, 1848, at Frankfort,* quelled, after severe 
fighting, by the Austrian and Prussian troops. Revolt at 
Baden, under Struve, at the head of a body of French, 
Polieh, and Italian refugees \ put down, after a battle, by 
the Baden troops. 

Meanwhile, from February, 1848, to August, 1849, In- 
surrection against the Austrians in tlie Worth of 
Stalyi aidea hy Charles Albert, King of Sardinia; 



FRANCIS JOSEPH I. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM IV. 153 



expulsion of the Austrians from Milan : they are driven 
l)ack by the Sardinian and Italian forces as far as the Adige. 
Battles and sieges in Lombardy ; the principal Austrian 
generals were Marshal Radetzky, Count Nugent, Count 

Clam, General Giulay, the Archduke Albert. ' G-reat ability of 
Radetzky. He waits for the right moment to take the offensive. His words to 
his soldiers were : " Soldiers, the war will be short ! " '— /. G. L. Xhe prin- 
cipal battles, Santa Lucia, indecisive ; Goito, the Austrians de- 
feated 'j Monte Berici, nearVicenza, the Austrians victorious j 
RivoU, the Austrians defeated ; Custozza^ the Austrians vic- 
torious \ Somma Campagna, the Austrians defeated ; Vallegioj 

the Austrians victorious. ' Three desperate battles fought on three 

successive days.' Ketreat of the Piedmontese ; capitulation of 
Milan. Meanwhile a Eepublic is proclaimed at Venice, 
which is blockaded by the Austrians ; revolution at Rome 
and flight of the Pope, Pius IX., proclamation of a Re- 
public under the Triumvirs. Battle of Mostara, the Aus- 
trians victorious, and decisive victory of Novara ; defeat, 
after heroic exertions, of Charles Albert, and abdication in 
favour of his son, the Duke of Savoy (now Victor Emanuel I., 
King of Italy, ' il re galantuomo ') ; armistice and submission 

of Sardinia. ' Very briefly, the principal terms were, payment by Pied- 
mont of the expenses of the war, and evacuation by them of Lombardy, 
Parma, Piacenza, and Modena, and withdrawal of their fleet from the 
Adriatic. The Austrians showed moderation in the hour of victory.' 

Insurrection, meanwhile, in Sicily ; suppressed with fright- 
ful cruelty by Ferdinand II., King of Naples, ^il re Bomba.' 
Siege and taking of Rome by the French ; gallant defence 
by Garibaldi ; blockade, starvation, and surrender of 
Venice * to the Austrians j 1849. 

Continuation of the war in Kungrary and Transyl- 
vania, 18^9 s the Austrian forces under Windischgratz, 
Jellalich, Ban of Croatia, Haynau, Riidiger, Simonich, against 

* There is a touching ballad called ' L'Ultima Ora di Yenezia,' by Arnoldo 
Fusinato, on the sufferings and surrender of Venice, in his little volume en- 
titled Po^ie de Giovanni Borchet. I myself have heard, during visits that I 
have paid to Venice, tales of the dreadful sufferings then undergone. 



154 



THE nUlTGARiiiN WAR, 1849. 



tlie Hungariaiis, under Georgey, Bem^ Dembinsky, Klapk% 
Perczel, Nagy Sandor ; their government organised and di- 
rected by Count Bathyany (till bis arrest and execution), 
and hj Kossuth. The principal (i^htnt^ ; advance of the 
Austrians, occupation of Pesth, and blockade by the Austrians 
of Komorn and Peterwardein^ retreat of the Hungarians 
behind the Theiss in the depth of winter^ January, 1849. 

* All the horrors of civil war began now to appear. The retreat to De- 
breczin was conducted under the most disastrous circumstances, the weather 
being dreadful, the cold five degrees below zero, and the army encumbered 
by an immense multitude of old men, women, and children in the last stage 
of starvation and suffering.'— 4. AL E. Battle of Kapolna, the Aus- 

trians victorious. Victories of the Hungarians under Bern 
near Kronstadt in Transylvania ; advance of the Hungarians 
on Pesth ; battles of Isaszeg and W aitzen, the Hungarians 
victorious j the siege of Komorn raised by the Austrians, 
who also evacuate Pesth ; storm by the Hungarians of Buda, 
v^hich is gallantly defended by General Hentzi and the 
Croats ] Hentzi killed. Frodaynation of Hungarian Indepen- 
device ; Kossuth Dictator. Immense energy shown by the 
Revolutionary Hungarian Government ] alliance of the Em- 
peror, Francis Joseph I., with Pussia ; advance of a Russian 
army of 150,000 men under Marshal Paskewitch, the Grand- 
duke Constantine, and Paniutine, into Hungary to aid the 
Austrians. Successes of the Hungarians under Perczel in the 

South. ' Before the Muscovite's succour could reach the scene of action on 
the banks of the Danube, disasters had accumulated to such a degree that it 
had become evident, that, without foreign aid speedily administered, the 
Austrian Empire would be inevitably ruined.' — A. M. E. Battle of Pei^edj 

defeat, after an obstinate contest, of the Hungarians; fiercely- 
contested battles of Acz and Komorn ; the first indecisive ; 
in the second, the Hungarians defeated. Battles of Waitzen 
und Tzombor, indecisive. Battles of Poroszlo and Debreczin^ 
the first indecisive ; in the second the Hungarians defeated. 
Successes meantime of the Hungarians under Bem at Taad 
and elsewhere, but he is defeated at Segesvar ; and at first 
victorious, but afterwards overthrown, at Hermaiinstadt ; 
battle of Szegedin^ indecisive j great and final battle of 



FKANCIS JOSEPH I. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM IV. 155 



Temeswar, defeat of the united Hungarian armies after 
a most gallant conflict ; Kossuth resigns the Dictatorship ; 
surrender of Georgey and his army to the Russians under 
General Riidiger at Boros-Jeno^ of the other detachments 
afterwards, and ^nd^Mj of Klapha at Komom, after a prolonged 
defence. Execution of fourteen of the most distinguished 
Hungarian officers, and nitf Qi toar antf i^t (n^urrf^cttnn, 

August, 1849. ' But in Hungary the Magyars were not so easily over- 
come. Such, was the valour of that warlike race, and such the military 
talents of their chiefs, that, although not numbering more than a third of 
the population of Hungary, and an eighth of that of the whole monarchy, it 
was found impracticable to subdue them without external aid. The Russians, 
as a matter of necessity, were called in to prevent the second capture of 
Vienna ; a hundred and sixty thousand Muscovites ere long appeared on the 
Hungarian plains ; numbei-s triumphed over valour, and Austria was saved 
by the sacrifice of its independence. Incalculable have been the consequences 
of this great and decisive movement on the part of the Czar. Not less than 
the capture of Paris, it has fascinated and subdued the minds of men. It 
has rendered him the undisputed master of the East of Europe, and led to a 
secret alliance, offensive and defensive, which at the convenient season will 
open to the Russians the road to Constantinople.' — A, H. M. E, 

Flight of Kossuth and the chief Hungarian generals to 
Turkey : the demands of Eussia and Austria for their extra- 
dition are courageously refused by Turkey. 

Offer^ by the deputation of the Frankfort Parliament, of 
the Imperial Crown to the King of Prussia ; which he re- 
fuses Promulgation of a new Electoral law for Prussia. 
Violent quarrels of the Frankfort Parliament and secession 
of a portion of its members. Tumulty outbreak, and insur- 
rection in Dresden j formation of a Pevolutionary provisional 
Government ; severe lighting in the streets ; the revolt is 
finally quelled by the aid of Prussian troops sent from Ber- 
lin, 1849. 

Revision, next year, of the Prussian Constitution ; further 
concessions made to the Liberal Party. Violent disputes 
between Prussia and Austria, with which latter power Ba- 
varia takes part. War nearly breaks out between them; 1850. 

Conferences held between the German sovereigns at 
Dresden: nothing comes of them. Restoration of the old 
Frankfort Diet ^ re-commencement in this year, 1851, of 



156 CONCORDAT OF AUSTRIA WITH THE POPE, 1855. 



the Schleswig'-Holstein Question 5 the agitation * is 
continued till 1863^ when war breaks out. 

Concordat between Austria and the Papal See ; 

August^ 1855 j t whereby tlie Emperor Francis Josepli I. sur- 
renders to tlie Pope tlie whole jurisdiction over the clergy 
in his own dominions^ and binds himself ever to maintain 
the Roman Catholic faith in all its rights and privileges 
throughout the Austrian Empire and its dependencies. ' By 

this instrument, tlie proud monarchy of Austria surrendered to the Roman 
See greater rights and privileges than had ever been extorted in the palmiest 
days of Papal power from any G-erman sovereign.' — A. R. 

Austria, Prussia, and the other States of Germany main- 
tain neutrality during the Crimean War of 1854 and 1855. 

Germany and all Europe in a state of profound 
peace from 1356 to 1859. 

Marriage of the Prince of Prussia, Frederic William, to 
the Princess Royal of England ; 1858. 

War of Austria against Sardinia and France in 
the N'orth of Italy; 1859. Prussia and the German 
Bund remain neutral. The causes of the war were, mainly, 
the undisguised sympathy professed by the government of 
Victor Emanuel for the cause of Italian independence, which 
simply meant throwing off the Austrian yoke 5 the unfriendly 
relations that had existed between the two governments 
since the battle of No vara ; the growth of Austrian influence 
in Italy, shown in the treaties made between the Empire 
and the States of Tuscany, Modena and Parma, by the 

* For this the Danes had undoubtedly given considerable cause, from 
their violation of the terms of the agreement between Denmark and the 
Duchies, by enforcing the use of the Danish language, law, and form of 
religion on a G-erman population. 

t The provisions of this degrading Concordat, by which the Emperor 
bound himself not to interfere with the appointment of the archbishops, 
bishops, or any of the orders of cler£ry, to permit their having free communi- 
cation with the See of Eome, to subject the whole course of instruction both 
in public and private schools of the Catholic youth of the country to ecclesi- 
astical superintendence, to allow of no book being published, or circulated, 
contrarv to that Faith, &c., &c., are given in the Annual Register for 1855, 
ch. X. p. 280. 



FRANCIS JOSEPH I. AND FREDERIC WILLIAM IV. 157 



occupation of the Legations by her troops^ and by tbe pre- 
dominance of her authority at Naples; and not least the 
assurance felt by Victor Emanuel that he might count on 

France for support in case of war. 'There can be little doubt that 
the reason why Sardinia took part in the war against Russia in the Crimea 
• — a quarrel in which she had no direct conceivable interest— was to conciliate 
the friendship and engage the alliance of the Western Powers, upon whose 
protection she might rely in case of a second collision with Austria ; and it 
was to France that Victor Emanuel chiefly looked for military support— nor 

did he look in vain.'— ^. E. Fruitless efforts of the British Go- 
vernment to maintain peace. Austria calls upon Sarduiia to 
disarm ; manifesto of Napoleon III.^ Emperor of the French ; 
advance of the Austrian army across the Ticino under Gene- 
ral Gyulai, Count Stadion, General Count Clam^ and General 
Benedek ; and of the French army into Piedmont^ under the 
Emperor Napoleon III.^ and Marshals Baraguay d'Hilliers, 
Canrobert^ Vaillant, and Generals M^Mahon, Forey, Niel, 
Espinasse, Beuret^ Bazaine, and St. Jean d'Angely. 

The Sardinian army was commanded by King Victor 
Emanuel in person (his able minister, Count Cavour), 
and by Generals La Marmora and Cialdini, while Gari- 
baldi harassed the Austrians with his free corps called 
^les chasseurs des Alpes.' Desperate combat of Monte- 
hello between the Austrians and the French and Sar- 
dinianS; indecisive ; the Austrians retire across the Ticino : 
terrible battle of IVZag-enta, June 4th, 1859, between the 
French, slightly assisted by the Sardinians, and the Aus- 
trians ; the French victorious. ' To give an idea of the deadly nature 
of the struggle, we will give an extract from an account of the battle by an 
eye-witness, which appeared in the columns of a contemporary journal : — 
" You never saw such a frightful scene of carnage as on all this ground, 
which the Austrians defended inch by inch, but had to leave at last. It is 
like the remains of a great rag fair ; shakoes, knapsacks, muskets, shoes, 
cloaks, tunics, linen, all stained vrith blood, and speaking of the obstinate 
resistance even now, when the greater part of the wounded have been re- 
moved and the dead mostly buried. Of how many dramas of heroism and 
ferocity, and of how many tragedies of woe and misery, must this have been 
the scene ! But the fiercest fight was further behind, on the railway line and 
the station-house behind it, and the village close by. Pressed back all along 
the line, the Austrians concentrated here all their efforts of resistance. In 
front of the station, beyond the line of rails, is a large long pit. extending 
for some distance to the right and left, and formed by tlie excavations neces- 
sary for the construction of the line. Where the pit ceases, a line of strong 



9 



If) 8 WAR WITH FRANCE AND SARDINIA, 1859. 

wood railings, painted yellow, is put up for some distance on both sides fco 
prevent passing across the line. Besides this, the railway bank, which is 
somewhat raised, forms a kind of ready parapet, behind which the defenders 
enjoyed some protection. The station, as well as the neighboming buildings 
and a square, solid campanile, were filled with riflemen, while the troops of 
the line massed themselves in front of them. As the troops came up, they 
were brought out here, and took the place of their exhausted comrades. To 
carry this strong position, the fusiliers and chasseurs of the G-uard were or- 
dered forward. They broke through, driving the enemy before them, until 
their course was arrested by the line of strong wooden railings. A few 
cannon-shot would have easily brought them down, but there was no place 
whence to bring them to bear, so nothing remained but to tear it down by 
main force and the axes of the sappers. It was done, and the column entered 
the village. Here every house had become a castle, held by a desperate gar- 
rison ; it required a regular combat to take it, and letter after letter could be 
"written on the incidents in which these isolated combats abounded. There 
is no doubt the Austrians fought desperately, even when everything seemed 
lost, an incredible number of their ofBeers being killed and wounded : the 
soldiers were left entirely to themselves in these isolated positions, from 

which there was no retreat." '—T. N. Entrance of the allied armiea 
into Milan. Exploits of Garibaldi in pursuit of the Aus- 
trian army ; fierce combat at Malegnano, out of which the 
Austrians are at last driven^ and retreat across Lombardy 
to the Mincio. Eattle of Solferino, June 24, between 
the allied armies and the Austrians ; the allies victorious ; 
the Austrians retire across the Mincio to the lines of the 

Quadrilateral ; * ' The Austrians unsuccessful through the incapacity 
of their generals.'-/. G. L. ARMISTICE OF VILLA- 
FRANC A', followed by THE PEACE OF ZURICH, 
between Austria, France, and Sardinia^ the principal condi- 
tion of which Vfas THE C1SSS103JJ QT ^OMBA^DV 
TO SiLRBEWIA; 1859. 

In the year 1860, the Reichsrath of the Austrian Empire 
enlarged, and a new Constitution of the Empire promulgated 
by the Emperor : the Hungarians are much dissatisfied with it. 

Continuance of the discontent in Hungary, during the 
next, 1861, and following years, even up to the present time ; 
the Himgarians protest against the right of the Reichsrath 
to legislate for Hungary ; general refusal throughout Hun- 
gary to pay taxes : the province is placed under a military 

* A district forming a kind of irregular square, and one of the strongest 
positions in the world, the four angles of which were occupied by the fort- 
resses of Mantua., Legnano, Peschiera, and Yerona. 



FRANCIS JOSEPH I. AND WILLIAM I. 



15^ 



dictatorsliip^ and treated more like a conquered country than 
an integral part of the Austrian Empire. 

Death of Frederic William IV. ; and accession of 
William I., his brother, as l^ingr of Prussia j Jan. 2, 1861, 

Commencement in 1362; of tlie Constitutional 
strug-g-le in Prussia. Dissolution of the Chambers by the 
King ; dispute between and collision of the Houses of the 
Prussian Parliament j speeches from the King^ Royal mes- 
sages, and changes of Ministers, continue to succeed each 
other in Prussia, during this year ; followed in the next year, 
1863, by arbitrary measures on the part of the King ; mat- 
ters are brought to a dead-lock by the refusal of the Cham- 
bers to grant supplies. Ee-commencenient during this year 
of the Schlesivig-Holstein Question ] * ferment throughout 
Germany. Resolutions of the Federal Diet held at Frank- 
fort on the Schleswig-Holstein Question. ' The decision of the 

Diet was that the Danish Government has not fulfilled the Federal obliga- 
tions relative to the constitutions of the Duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, 
and that Federal execution must be resorted to to enforce their fulfilment.' — 

Saxon troops of the Germanic Confederation are sent 
to occupy Holstein ; 1863. Holstein is evacuated by the 
Danes, after the Rigsraad had in vain made concessions as tO' 
the constitution of the Duchies. 

During the war in Poland, between Russia and Poland, 
Prussia di.^graces herself in the eyes of Europe by truckling 
to the Czar, and concludes a convention for the delivery up 
of all Polish refugees in the Prussian frontier. 

Cong:ress of CS-erman Sovereig-ns held at Frankfort 

in this year, 1863, to discuss the H,eform of tlie Ger- 
man Bund, or Confederation i f the King of Prussia 
declines to take part in it : its resolutions and decrees pro- 
bably utterly valueless. 

* For a clear idea, if such be possible, of this difficult question, read the 
Annval Register for 1863, Foreign Hist. chs. ii. and iii. 

t Should the reader care to know more on this point, he will find the 
vnrions Articles given full length in the Ann. Register for 1863, Foreign 
Hist. ch. iv. p. 276. 



i60 SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN WAR AGAINST DENMARK. 



Appeal of the King of Denmark to the European Powers ; 
1864. Deputation sent by Holstein to the Federal Diet in 
favour of the Duke of Augustenburg j * despatch of Earl 
Russell to the Federal Diet in the fruitless endeavour to 
bring about a conference for the maintenance of peace be- 
tween Denmark and Germany, and to prevent the violation 
of the Treaty of London t of 1852. The Danes evacuate 
Bendsburg^ which is occupied by the Saxon troops of the 
Confederation, under General Hake, December 31, 1863. 

The Danes occupy the Dannewerke, ' an ancient line of fortifica- 
tions near tiie town of Sclileswig, extending nearly six German miles, wMch 
they had endeavoured, since 1850, to strengthen by every means in their 
power, and which now consisted of three lines of entrenchments, armed with 
heavy guns, connected by intermediate works, and rendered very strong by 
dykes, tltes du po7it, batteries, blockhouses, and so forth.' — A. R. Advance 

of the Prussian forces under General von Wrangel, and of 
the allied Austrian forces under General von Gablenz. The 
Danes commanded by General de Meza, and afterwards by 
General de Luttichau and General Gerlach. ' The Danes re- 
ceive no help from England or France.' — /. G. L. Severe action 

at Missimde ; the Danes retire ; the Prussians cross the 
Schlei, and turn the flank of the Dannewerke, which the 
Danes abandon with all its artillery ; occupation of Flens- 
burg by the Prussians ; the Danish army makes a stand at 
Diippel opposite Alsen. Fredericia meanwhile is besieged 
by the Austrians. Valiant defence of Diippel by the Danes 
under General Gerlach : Schleswig is occupied completely 
by the allied forces, who appoint commissioners to adminis- 
ter the civil government, and command the use of the Ger- 
man language henceforth exclusively. Fredericia abandoned 
by the Danes ; after a long siege, the Prussians take the lines 

* On the claims of the Duke of Augustenburg to the Elbe Duchies, see 
Genealogical Chart of the Oldenburg Dynasty, by Dr. Weinmann, published by 
Kent & Co., London; or the Genealogical Chart of the House of Oldenhurg^ 
commonly called Schleswig-Holstein, by Mr. F. J. Jeffery, published by Hatton, 
Piccadilly. 

t ' This treaty, to which England and France were parties, professed to 
secure to the Danish crown all the dominions that belonged to it.' — Ann. 
Reg. for 1864, p. 220. 



FiUNCIS JOSEPH I. AND WILLIAM I. 



161 



of Diippel, and entrance into Jutland : tyrannical conduct 
of the Prussians^ wlio levy enormous contributions on the 
countiy : defeat of the Austrian fleet by the Danes near 
Heligoland, and occupation of Jutland by the Prussians, 
who cross over into Alsen. Denmark is compelled to submit. 

* The capture of Alsen and the abandonment of Fredericia decided tlie issne 
of the struggle ; and Denmark, isolated as she was in the unequal war, 
found herself compelled to yield and consent to peace. The principal terms 
of the treaty of peace were the dismemberment of the Danish monarchy by 
the cession to Austria and Prussia of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, 
&nd Lauenburg, and that the war expenses of the allies should be repaid by 
the Duchies.'—^. E. 1864. 

tbt iDar tottl) BtnmKX'k lurre (very briefly), the total dis- 
regard, on the part of Prussia and Austria, of the hopes and 
aspirations of the German Confederation, and the increasing 
discontent between those two powers, which threatens, at 
the present time (August 1865), to lead to war.* The 

Schleswig-Holstein question has at last entered a phase which everybody can 
understand. That unfathomable controversy which it is said that one man 
only ever succeeded in comprehending, and he at the cost of his reason, has 
now been made transparently clear. It meant, simply this — that G-ermany 
coveted a bit of Denmark \^T.thout knowing exactly how to get it, or in whose 
hands it should be lodged. For years together G-erman Professors laboured 
hard to prove that the title of the Danish Sovereigns to a certain portion of 
their dominions was not entu'ely perfect, and at the last demise of the Danish 
Crown, the minor states of Germany, assembled in Congress, declared that 
the Duchies devolved by right, not on the present King of Denmark, but on 
the Duke of Augustenburg. To this resolution they prepared to give effect 
by force of arms, when they found themselves rudely elbowed off the scene 
by Austria and Prussia, which Powers, adopting the German cause in prin- 
ciple, took the execution of the work upon themselves. How they accom- 
plished it, we need not describe. The Danes were driven not only out of 
Holstein, which was German, but out of Schleswig, which was Danish, 
and the first result was that the conquerors established in their own favour 
exactly that state of things which they had declared to be unendurable while 
it prevailed in favour of Denmark. A mixed population of Danes and 
Grermans had been subjected to a Danish government ; it was now sub- 
jected to a German government, and with at least as much dissatisfaction 
on the part of the community. 

' Then arose the critical question — ^Who is the heir ? The crusade was ori- 
ginally undertaken in the interests of the Duke of Augustenburg, whose 
claims had been acknowledged and supported by the promoters of the first 
agitation. These claims have now been utterly discarded by Prussia ; and 
Prussia has also rejected with equal decision the pretensions advanced in 
favour of other claimants. It results, therefore, that after the King of Den- 
mark has been forcibly dispossessed, those who dispossessed him can produce 

* I have left this passage as it was written last year. How the antici- 
pations of war have now (June 1866) been fulfilled, it is needless to say. 

M 



162 DISCONTENT IN AUSTRIA, AND TREATY OF GASTEIN. 



no title to the property in any way superior to his ; in fact, the very latest 
proposition in the matter was this — that, whereas the rightful heir for whom 
the Duchies had been conquered was found to have no existence, the con- 
querors should divide the conquest between them by prolonging indefinitely 
the " joint occupation " which had subsisted since the war. Now, if we con- 
sider for a moment that the King of Denmark, against wliose claims it is 
thus found impossible to produce any others, had at any rate been previously 
recognised by the Powers of Europe as the most desirable successor to the 
Duchies, we shall be able to estimate the value of the pretensions on which 
Grermany professed to rely in this famous quarrel. Kinfj Christian derived an 
undoubted title to the Duchies from the consent — we might almost say the 
guarantee — of Europe, and his title by inheritance is now proved to be so good 
that at any rate no better can be shown. So much for the justice of the war. 

' Prussia scarcely condescends to disguise the fact that she invaded and con- 
quered the southern provinces of Denmark, not for Germany, nor for any 
G-erman pretender, nor for anybody, in fact, but herself alone. And she 
would have appropriated this spoil without shame or hesitation had not the 
jealousy of a rival stood in her way. Austria is not disposed to permit this 
aggrandisement of Prussia. The balance of power in that miniature of 
Europe called the Germanic Confederation is very carefully watched. . . . 
As it is, Denmark has lost the Duchies, but for whose ultimate advantage it 
is still not quite possible to say. Two out of the three attacking parties liave 
undoubtedly suffered for their pains. The smaller States of Germany, whose 
mischievous agitation first kindled the flame, have missed all they aimed at, 
and have been snubbed into the bargain. No war could have visited them 
with greater humiliation. Austria will probably be compelled to witness 
the aggrandisement of her rival by means to which she herself contributed, 
and to see all that she did in the Danish war redound to the advantage of a 
formidable and aggressive neighbour. Prussia, it may be said, will gain ; 
but for that conclusion we must yet wait. Certainly, her chance of appro- 
priating and absorbing the Danish Duchies appears a good one. and she is 
already threatening to extinguish the German spirit in those provinces as 
effectually as the Danish spirit was suppressed before. But this alienates 
Germany ; while Prussia herself, disturbed and restless, is on the brink of 
political convulsions which no man can forecast.' — 7\ JV. 

Increasing discontent in Austria in lier non-Germanic 
provinces, Hungary,* Croatia, &c. 5 and especially in Venetia ; 
which is kept in subjection solely by means of an enormous 

army of occupation. ' Bohemia is disaffected, Croatia sulky, Hungary 
embittered, and Venice an open foe. Money is scarce in the Imperial ex- 
chequer : the Kaiser's nearest allies, who might safely have been counted on 
a few years ago, and could be so even now, had they not been discarded at 
the beginning of the Schleswig-Holstein campaign— Bavaria, Llibeck, Wiir- 
temberg, and Saxony— are in anything but a hurry to offer their services in 
case of war.'— ^. 

Convention J or Treaty^ of Gastein, called the Austro-Prusso- 
Danish Treaty, between Austria and Prussia, with regard to 

* There are two very interesting and pretty articles, on the manner in 
which the House of Austria gradually united to itself the provinces of 
Hungary, Bohemia, Slavonia, Croatia, &c., &c., and on the long struggle of 
J-fungary to maintain its constitutional rights, in the Times for Oct. 2, and 
Q<it, 7, 1865. The articles are entitled Austria and Hungary. 



WAR BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA IMMINENT. 163 



Sclileswig-Holstein ; 1865. The terms may be thus ex- 
plained : — ' There is no " definite solution " of the question, but Austria 
and Prussia have agreed to Iseep the question where it is, on the conditions 
following : — Schleswig and Holstein are to be separated ; Schles^yig is to be 
given up to the " pro-vdsional " rule of Prussia ; Holstein to the " provisional^' 
rule of Austria, thus to be occupied and governed until the occupj-ing powers 
shall otherwise determine. In the meantime, Austria allows Prussia to take 
and keep Lauenburg absolutely, in return for which cession of somebody 
else's property, Prussia pays Austria a handsome sum of money.' * — T. 

Continued occupation by Austria and Prussia of the 
Duchies : suspected designs of Prussia to appropriate them. 
Increasing disagreement between the two Great Powers of 
Germany : Count Bismarck supreme at Berlin : suppression 
of Liberal Opinions and Constitutional Government in 
Prussia : Austria refuses to evacuate Holstein : mutual re- 
criminations between, and, at last, armaments of, Prussia 
and Austria. Prussia endeavours to gain over Italy as her 
ally : enormous forces levied on both sides, and war immi- 
nent. Dangerous position of Austria, between Prussia, on 
the one side, and Italy, which threatens Venetia, on the 
other. Vast forces levied throughout Italy, Garibaldi 
offered the command of a vokmteer corps : introduction uf 
a volunteer movement into th€ Austrian Empire at Prague. 
The proposed Conference at Paris (Nov. 1865) comes to 
nothing. Appeal of Austria to the Germanic Confede- 
ration (ber ^eutfd)e S3unb) \ whose decision being adverse 
to her, Prussia sets at nought. Prussia occupies Hol- 
stein, and advances into Hanover and Saxony. More 
than 1,000,000 men probably under arms in Austria 
and Prussia alone, without counting the forces of Italy. 

War apparently imminent (June 10, 1866). t «if the agita- 
tion now convulsing the Continent should really end in war, it will 
be a fresh proof of the little progress actually made towards that per- 
fectibility of human nature with assurances of which we used to" be 
encouraged. The economists, or philanthropists, who looked upon war 
as \-irtually obsolete, upon armaments as gratuit-ous, and upon pacifie 

* See more in the Leading Article of The T'm^'s Newspaper for Aug. 22, 1865, 
t As these sheets are finally passing through the press, news has just 
come that the War has commenced. The parting words of Melesippus the 
Spartan {Thiaid. ii. 12) naturally occur to the memory : -i) y]\xicxa. ro'x 
'EAArjcri u^yaKiov Ka,Kix>v dp^ec : with a hearty hope that the augm-y maj 
not be fuJfilled. 

M 2 



164 SKETCH OF THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION. 



arbitration as the inevitable substitute for havoc and carnage, may 
now convince themselves that, in spite of the discussions and discoveries of 
the 19th century, the world remains much as it was. The war now appa- 
rently imminent would be an utterly gratuitous war, unless estimated by 
the very standards of policy believed to be now superseded. If Prussia 
fights, she will fight simply for the aggrandisement of her dominions by the 
retention of conquests unjustly acquired. If Italy fights, she wiU fight 
openly and solely for the conquest of a province which, though Italian by 
nationality, is Austrian by European law and long possession. If Austria 
fights, she will have this much better cause — ^that it will be in self-defence ; 
for Venetia, which is coveted by Italy, is her own proper territory, and 
Holstein, which is coveted by Prussia, is in her occupation. To sum up the 
demerits of the case, we must add that, though a fourth Power could pro- 
bably prevent the conflict by a word, that word is not spoken. If war now 
ensues, and its history should be written, it will appear as unjust, as un- 
necessary, and as wanton as any war of past times. 

* Sheer conquest, and nothing less, forms the motive of Prussia. She is 
determined to possess herself of the Danish Duchies without a partner, and 
to exclude Austria from all share in the common spoil. She will pay for 
the privilege if necessary, but only in such coin as will leave the balance of 
real power in her favour. She is ready to give money, but not territory. 
For a ' rectification ' of limits on the Silesian frontier Austria would pro- 
bably dispose of her claims upon Holstein, for it is impossible to believe, 
after what has passed in this matter, that she can be sincerely interested in 
the pretensions of any independent Prince. But Prussia, while demanding 
in the North such a cession of territory as may hereafter ensure her abso- 
lute preponderance, is not prepared to yield a square yard in return; and so 
Austria, long alarmed at this rivalry, will make a fight for safety while she 
can. She accepts the chances of present war rather than see Prussia ag- 
grandised to such an extent as would render resistance more difficult 
hereafter.'— A^. 



Sketcli of tlie present G-ermanic Confederation 

(ber ^eutfd)e SSunb), as established in 1865, and as it can 
be, at present; said to exist. 

The German Confederation, as constituted by the Con- 
gress of Vienna, is an International Union (S55lferred)tlid)er 
SSerein) of Sovereign Princes and the free cities of Germany, 
mutually independent of one another, with equal reciprocal 
rights and obligations, but in its external relations a col- 
lective power combined in political unity j comprising — 
especially as regards the Emperor of Austria, and the King 
of Prussia — all and each of their possessions which anciently 
appertained to the Germanic Empire, their non-German 
provinces excepted.* (Art. I. of the Federal Act of 8th 

* On the 13th May, 1851, Austria demanded of the Federal Diet to be 
admitted a member of the Confederation with all'hex non-German provinces \ 
Prussia, in order to counteract this design, withdrew from the jurisdiction 



SKETCH OF THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION. 165 

June, 1815, and Arts. I. and U. of the Final Act of 15th 
May, 1820.) * 

' Originally the League was composed of one Emperor (Austria) ; five Kings 
(Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, "Wiirtemberg, and the King of England for 
Hanover) ; one ^^^ctor (Hesse-Cassel) ; seven Grand-dukes (Baden, Darmstadt, 
Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Strelitz, Saxe- Weimar, Oldenburg, and the King 
of the Netherlands for the G-rand-duchy of Luxembourg) ; nine Dukes (three 
of Saxony : IVIeiningen, Coburg-Gotha, and Altenburg ; three of Anhalt : 
Dessau, Kbthen, and Bernburg ; Nassau, Brunswick, and the King of Den- 
mark for the Duchy of Holstein) ; ten Sovereign Princes (Schwarzburg-Son- 
dershausen and Rudolstadt ; HohenzoUern-Hechingen and Sigmaringen ; 
Reuss the elder and the younger branch ; Lippe-Detmold and Schaumburg ; 
Waldeck; Lichtenstein), to whom, in 1817, was added fhe Landgrave oj 
Eesse-Homburg ; and the four free cities (Frankfort, Hamburg, Bremen, and 
Ltibeck).' — Extr. from Dr, Weber's Lehrbuch der Weltgeschichte, ii. p. 425. 

The fundamental Act annexed to the Treaty of Vienna, 
to which England was a leading party, sets forth : — 1st. That 
the German Confederation is formed for the exterior and 
interior security of Germany, and for the independence and 
inviolability of the Federal States. 

2nd. That they mutually guarantee to each other those 
possessions comprised in the Federal Union. 

3rd. That, when war is declared by the Confederation, 
none of the members can negotiate separately with the 
enemy, or conclude any peace or truce. 

4th. That the Confederate States shall never, upon any 
pretext whatever, declare war on each other, but all shall 
submit their differences to the Federal Diet ; and in cases 
in which the latter is not sufficiently competent, an ' liu^^ 
txac^al^etidjt/ that is, a court of arbitration, is to be appointed 
to decide doubtful matters between the members of the 
Gonfederation.f 



of the Diet her non-Gennan provinces, which had been added to the Con- 
federation in 1848. 

* For the original of the Federal Act, and the Final Act, see Marten's 
Nouveau Recueil, tome ii. p. 353, and tome v. p. 467, respectively. 

t ' The term " Austragalinstanz " (a tribunal of arbitration) is borrowed 
from the ancient system of arbitration between the members of the Empire, 
instituted by the Eaiperor Maximilian I. at the Diet of Worms, in 1495, and 
subsequently organised more completely by the Emperor Charles V. in 1540. 
The word Austregal, or, in German, Austi^agal, is derived from " Austrag," a 
decision. The Austragal-Tribunal of the Germanic Confederation was regu- 
lated by a resolution of the Diet, 3rd August, 1820.'— See Marten's Nouveau 
Jieczieil, tome v. p. 516. 



IGG SKETCH OF THE GEEMNIC CONFE.DERATIOJ?. 



5tli. That the Confederation is indissoluble^ and none of 
its members is at liberty to secede from it. 

6th. That the States are obliged to defend, in case of 
attack, not only Germany in its entirety, but also each in- 
dividual State of the Union. 

7th. That a Federal army (S5unbe§i)eer), composed of con- 
tingents of the yarious States, is to protect the security and 
independence of the common Fatherland, the commander- 
in-chief of which, in time of war, is to be appointed by the 
Diet. 

8th. That all German States shall have representative 
constitutions, and the Christian sects shall enjoy equal 
rights ; That all State citizens ((Staat^burger) shall be equal 
before law, and that only the mediatised (so-called) immediate 
Barons of the Empire (retd[)6unmittelbare (Stanbc^t)erren) 
shall enjoy certain privileges. 

These are the most important dispositions of the Federal 
Act (Seutfd)e ^unbegacte). 

' Erom the above statements it will be seen that the Grermanic Confedera- 
tion is established upon the basis of a defensive alliance between its members 
for their joint and separate security and protection, differing in this respect 
from an ordinary alliance, inasmuch as the determination of every casus 
foedeins rests with a common Assembly or Diet, and not with the individual 
members ; the functions of this Diet being limited by the disposition of the 
Federal Act.' — Dr. Travers Twiss, On the Relations of the Duchies of Schlesmg 
andHolstein to Denmark and the Germanic Confederation. 

The various German States, and the free cities comprised 
in the Union, are represented by special ambassadors, who 
collectively constitute the German ^ SSunb,' or ^ SSunbeSoer^ 
fa mm lung' (Federal Assembly), at Frankfort on the Maine, 
to which again ambassadors of the foreign great powers are 
accredited. 

The general affairs of Germany, and the business of the 
Confederation, are conducted under the presidentship of 
Austria and Prussia, by a permanent executive Committee 
of seventeen curice^ called the ^ Federal Diet^ or ' SSunbe^tag.' 
In important matters the representatives of all the States 



SKETCH OF THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION. 167 



assemble in a full meeting (^lenarfi^ung), numbering alto- 
gether seventy votes^ even the smallest States having one 
vote; and the two greatest four votes each. 

By Art. XIII. of the Federal Act it is stipulated that all German States 
shaU receive representative constitutions. King Frederic William III. of 
Prussia was the first who, by a proclamation dated 22nd May, 1815, promised 
the establishment of Provincial Diets, and a Constitution for the whole 
Monarchy. His promise, however, was not carried out until 1823, and the 
provincial assemblies then instituted by him, being only invested with a 
consulting voice, did not satisfy his people. Discontent, which had long been 
brewing all over Germany, followed ; inasmuch as the results of the Vienna 
Congress had disappointed the just expectations of the people, who, by their 
devotion and support in 1813-1815, had saved the thrones. 

The occasion of a festival instituted on the Wartburg, near Eisenach, on the 
18th October, 1817, by a number of students, for the purpose of celebrating 
the tercentenary of the Reformation and the anniversary of the battle of 
Leipsic, at which fiery speeches were made, and books of absolutistic tenden- 
cies by Kotzebue, Kamptz, Haller, and others burnt ; the assassination of the 
Eussian State-Counsellor Kotzebue by Sand, a Student (23rd March, 1819) ; 
the so-called ' demagogical conspiracies,' and the dissatisfaction prevailing in 
all classes of society, gave the Austrian Chancellor, Prince Metternich, an 
opportunity for putting down all liberal aspirations. In the Ministerial Con- 
ferences at Karlsbad (1819), and Vienna (1820), it was resolved that neither 
Austria nor any other of the Confederate States should take part in any 
liberal religious or political development ; that, wherever a participation of 
the people in the government was already established, it should be restricted 
or altogether abolished ; that the censorship of the press (^CnfUt) should 
be rigidly carried out ; that the Federal Diet should be regarded the highest 
power in Germany, and the absolutism of the Sovereign Princes recognised 
as an established right. All these reactionary regulations were embodied in 
the FINAL ACT OF VIENNA, WHICH SUPERSEDED THE FEDERAL 
ACT of 1815. A Central Enquiry Commission (^entral=Unterfud[)Ung§- 
(S^OnintifflOn) was instituted atMayence ; which prosecuted and imprisoned 
aU who dared to express dissatisfaction with these measures. Fear and in- 
dignation prevailed everywhere. Prince Metternich's spirit ruled supreme 
in the Diet, and laid all political development in chains. No measure was 
considered too severe to suppress all freedom of thought ; the public press 
was gagged ; the right of meeting prohibited, and the whole country placed 
under the surveillance of the poUce. It was, and is still, the pride of the 
Diet to style itself the representative of the ' College of Princes,' the people 
of Germany being entitled to no other consideration than passive obedience. 

The revolutionary movements of 1848 swept away the 
Federal Diet^ which for thirty years had been the scourge 
of the country. On the 12th of July it resigned its powers 
into the hands of Archduke John of Austria, who had been 
elected Regent of the Empire (^ReidjSoermefer) by the National 
Parliament sitting at Frankfort, and the Diet decreed its 
own dissolution. 



168 SKETCH OF THE GERMANIC CONFEDERATION. 



The various attempts made during that period to bring 
about the unity of Germany having all failed, and the hos- 
tile rivalry of the Courts of Austria and Prussia having at 
length arrived at such a pitch as to make a conflict almost 
inevitable, both Powers agreed, by a Convention concluded 
at Olmiitz (30th November, 1850), to settle their differences 
and regulate the affairs of Germany at a Conference to be 
held for that purpose at Dresden. 

TO AUSTEIA IS DUE THE DOUBTFUL MEEIT 
OF HAVING EESUSCITATED THE DEFUNCT 
FEDERAL DIET (1st December, 1850), which Prussia, 
after at first refusing to recognise it, joined, by virtue of the 
arrangements concluded at the Dresden Conferences; and 
THE CONFEDERATION IS NOW ONCE MORE 
ESTABLISHED ON THE SAME PRINCIPLES AS 
BEFORE, viz., by an illiberal compact between the Sove- 
reign rulers, to the exclusion of the people of Germany. 

' The Federal Diet, though nommally " a collective power combined in 
political unity," is, by its very constitution, a political body powerless and 
without authority. On the most important aif airs of the interior policy of 
the difEerent States, on all matters concerning commerce and constitutional 
government, it exercises no influence, and it is only remarkable by its in- 
herent weakness, and entire want of beneficial political action. All its de- 
cisions are dependent on the instructions given to the ambassadors by the 
ministets of the different courts represented in it ; and it is a mere instru- 
ment in the hands of the two great rival German Powers, each of which, by 
striving to gain supremacy in Germany, keeps in check the healthy develop- 
ment of the wealth and resources not only of their own countries but also oi 
the Empire in general. 

* Thus, the bold experiment attempted by the collective wisdom of the 
diplomatists assembled at the Congress of Vienna has, after an experience of 
half a century, proved only a melancholy failure ; the Confederation being 
founded and maintained only for military, diplomatic, and dynastic pur- 
poses, without having any real basis in either the internal organisation of 
the States that compose it or in their external relations.'— i^. L. W. 

CONVENTION OF GASTEIN BETWEEN 

PRUSSIA AND AUSTEIA. 1865, 'by which the Duchy 
of Schleswig was transferred to Prussia, and Holstein to Austria, Kiel 
created a German Federal harbour, and Bendsburg a Federal fortress, &c., &c., 

displeasing to and remonstrated against by England and 
France. The claims of the Duke Christian of Augusten- 
burg to the two duchies set aside, « though, in the opinion of the 



WAR BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA. 



169 



Prussian laAvyers, the King of Denmark was the rightful sovereign of the 
entirety of the Duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, Sunderburg, and Gllicksburg, 
and that the only instance of title on the part of Prussia and Austria to 
these provinces was the cession of them by the treaty of October 1864, whicli 
was extorted from King Christian IX. at the point of the sword.' — S. R, 

Feelings of hostility rise between Prussia and Austria^ 1866, 
partly and nominally about the occupation of the duchies, 
but really from the rivalry between the two Powers as 
to which should take the lead in Germany, and from the 
ambitious schemes of Count Bismarck, Prime Minister of 
Prussia. The increase of the Austrian army against Italy, 
(determined to attack Austria at all costs,) is made the pre- 
text for precipitating the rupture. 

Secret alliance between Italy and Prussia, engaging to 
make joint war on Austria, March 1866. Circular sent by 
Prussia to the smaller German States, calling upon them to 
take their side in the approaching struggle ; all provisions 
of the Germanic Bund set aside ; secession from the Bund 
of Prussia and 16 other States, out of the 33 that formed 
it ; the smaller Northern States side with Prussia ; Bavaria 
remains neutral;* fruitless remonstrance addressed to Prussia 
in the Federal Diet at Frankfort by Saxony, Bavaria, Hano- 
ver, Wtirtemburg, and other members of the Bund ; failure 
on the part of England, France, and Russia to summon a 
Conference at Paris for the preservation of peace ; the Aus- 
trian troops, under General Gablenz, Governor of Holstein, 
forced by the Prussians, under General Manteuffel, to evacuate 
Holstein ; fruitless protest made by Austria against this 
violation of the Convention of Gastein. 

Formal declaration ofivar against Austria made by Prussia 
on June 18, and by the King of Italy ^ Victor Emmanuel, two 
days later, 

THE WARt COMIWCEWCED by the occupation of 
Saxony and Hesse- Cassel by the Prussians. Their forces 

* Eventually she joined Austria. 

t Besides the graphic sketches of the Dailp News Correspondent, re- 
published, in 1 vol., by Macmillan, read Hozier's Seven Weeks' War. Dr. 
Russell, the Times Correspondent's Letters, have not as yet been republished. 



170 WAR Br.TWEEN PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA. 



consisted of three armies : the 1st, under Prince Frederick 
Charles, occupies Saxony and threatens Bohemia ; the 2nd; 
under the Crown Prince of Prussia, acts in Silesia and Mo- 
ravia; the third, under General Herwarth, covers the flank 
of the 1st Army. For their success in the campaign, called 
*the Seven Weeks War,' the Prussians were mainly indebted 
to the strategic talents of General Von Moltke, and to their 
being armed with the ZilnclnadelgeiDehr^ the breech-loading 

needle-gun. < The Austrian soldiers were brave, their generals in- 
capable, as in former ages of Austrian history. Archduke Albert alone 
was a remarkable exception, as was also the Admiral Tegethoff.* 

Manifesto of the Emperor of Austria to his subjects, setting 
forth that the motives on the part of Prussia, in her 
violation of the Federal laws of the German Bund and her 
resort to arms, were ' the dictates of egotism and the un- 
governable craving after aggrandisement.' (Manifesto of 
Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria.) Austrian Generals, Bene- 
dek, commander-in-chief of the Army of the North ; the Arch- 
dukes Ernest and Leopold, General Gablenz, Count Thun, 
Count Clam Gallas, Count Taxis, Kemming, Edelsheim, &c. 

Advance of the 1st Prussian Army into Bohemia, battles 
of MUnchengratz (defeat of the Austrians and Saxons by 
Prince Frederick Charles) ; of Nachod (defeat of the Aus- 
trians under Kemming) ; of Trautenau and Shalitz (defeat 
of the Austrians under the Archduke Leopold by General 
Gablenz) ; all three victories won by the 2nd Prussian Army 
under the Crown Prince of Prussia ; of Hunerwasser ( defeat 
of the Austrians by the 3rd Prussian Army under General 
Herwarth, who effects a junction with the 1st Army). 
GRBAT AZa-B BSCZSIVS SATTl&S OF SLOSiTZG^ 
CS-RATZ, also called the battle of Sadowa, defeat of the main 
Austrian army under Benedek, probably about 195,000 
strong, by the united Prussian armies, which far outnum- 
bered him j the battle raging over a space of about eight 
miles. 



WAR BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA. 



171 



* It was ten o'clock when Prince Frederick Charles sent General Stnhnapal 
to order the attack on Sadowa, Dohilnitz, and Mbkrowens. 

* The columns advanced covered by skirmishers, and reached the river 
bank without much loss, but from there tbey had to fight every inch of 
their way. The Austrian infantry held the bridges and villages in force, 
and fired fast upon them as they approached. The Prussians could advance 
but slowly along the narrow ways and against the defences of the houses, 
and the volleys sweeping through the ranks seemed to tear the soldiers 
down. The Prussians fired much more quickly than their opponents, but 
they could not see to take their aim ; the houses, trees, and smoke from the 
Austrian discharges surrounded the villages. Sheltered by this, the Austrian 
Jagers fired blindly where they could tell by hearing that the attacking 
columns were, and the shots told tremendously on the Prussians in their 
close formations ; but the latter improved their positions, although slowly, 
and by dint of sheer courage and perseverance ; for they lost men at every 
yard of their advance, and in some places almost paved the way with 
wounded. Then, to help the infantry, the Prussian artillery turned its 
fire, regardless of the enemy's batteries, on the villages, and made tremen- 
dous havoc amongst the houses. Mokrowens and Dohilnitz both caught 
fire, and the shells fell quickly and with fearful effect among the defenders 
of the flaming hamlets. The Austrian guns also played upon the attacking 
infantry, but at this time these were sheltered from their fire by the houses 
and trees between. 

' In and around the villages the fighting continued for nearly an hour ; 
then the Austrian infantry, who had been there, driven out by a rush of the 
Prussians, retired, but only a little way up the slope into a line with their 
batteries. The wood above Sadowa and Benatek, teeming with riflemen, 
stood to bar the way of the 7th division. But General Fransky, who com- 
mands this division, was not to be easily stopped, and he sent his infantry 
at the wood and turned his artillery on the Austrian batteries. The 7thi 
Division began firing into the trees, but found they could not make any 
impression, for the defenders were concealed, and musketry fire was useless 
against them. Then Fransky let them go, and they dashed in with the 
bayonet. The Austrians would not retire, but waited for the struggle ; and 
in the wood above Benatek was fought out one of the fiercest combats which 
the war has seen. The 27th Prussian regiment went in nearly 3,000 strong, 
with 90 officers, and came out on the further side with only two oflBcers and 
between 300 and 400 men standing ; all the rest were killed or wounded. 
The other regiments of the division also suffered much, but not in the same 
proportion ; but the wood was carried. The Austrian line was now driven 
in on both flanks, but its commander formed a new line of battle a little 
higher up the hill, round Lipa, still holding the wood which lies above 
Sadowa. 

* General Herwarth, who commanded the Prussian Army of the Elbe on 
the extreme left of the Austrians, had in the meantime been engaged with 
the Saxon troops at Rechanitz, a village about seven miles lower down the 
Bistritz than Sadowa. The Saxons fought splendidly, and were with diffi- 
culty and slowly driven back towards Lipa, where the main force of the Aus- 
trian army was concentrated. A wood above the villages of Sadowa and Do- 
hilnitz was occupied by the Austrians, and their artillery, firing through the 
trees, caused great losses amongst the Prussian infantry, which was advanc- 
ing to carry the wood. At last, however, the Austrians were driven back, 
but they formed their batteries outside the trees, and played with mur- 
derous effect upon the Prussians, who were entangled in the wood. It was 
about one o'clock, and in the words of the writer we have just quoted,— 

* " The whole line of the Prussians could gain no more ground, and was 



172 WAR BETWEEN PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA. 



obliged to fight hard to retain the position it had won. At one time it 

seemed as if it would be lost, for guns had been dismounted by the Austrian 
fire, and in the wooded ground the needle-gun had no fair field, and the 
infantry fight was very equal. . . . 

' " Plerwarth, too, seemed checked upon the right. The smoke of his 
musketry and artillery, which had hitherto been pushing forward steadily, 
stood still for a time. Fransky's men, cut to pieces, could not be sent for- 
ward to attack the Sadowa wood, for they would have exposed themselves 
to be taken in rear by the artillery on the right of the Austrian line formed 
round Lipa. All the artillery was engaged except eight batteries, and these 
had to be retained in case of a reverse, for at one time the firing in the 
Sadowa wood, and of the Prussian artillery on the slope, seemed almost as 
if drawing back towards Bistritz. The First Army was certainly checked 
in its advance, if not actually being pushed back." 

* It was a critical moment, and the Prussian generals looked uneasily for 
tidings of the Crown Prince, who they knew was to advance on the Austrian 
right. The position reminds us of the closing hours of the Battle of 
Waterloo, when the Duke of Wellington so anxiously expected the approach 
of Blucher. The Austrian centre in front of Klum and lipa was held by the 
3rd and 4th Corps somewhat thrown back, with the 1st Corps in reserve, 
and the 6th Corps was in reserve on the right towards Smirahtz. At about 
half-past one o'clock in the afternoon, the army of the Crown Prince came 
tip and engaged the Austrian right. The village of Klum had been for 
some time in flames, and desperate efforts had been made by the Prussian 
centre to carry it, when the Austrians suddenly found themselves exposed 
to a cross fire on their right. This was from the advance of the Crown 
Prince. " Suddenly," says the correspondent of the Times, who viewed the 
battle from the top of the tower in Kbniggratz, '* a spattering of musketry 
breaks out of the trees and houses of Klum, right down on the Austrians 
below. The gunners fall on all sides — their horses are disabled— the fixing 
increases in intensity — the Prussians press on over the plateau : this is an 
awful catastrophe — two columns of Austrians are led against the village, but 
they cannot stand the fire, and after three attempts to carry it, retreat, 
leaving the hill-side covered with the fallen. It is a terrible moment. The 
Prussians see their advantage : they here enter into the very centre of the 
position. In vain the staff officers fly to the reserves and hasten to call 
back some of the artillery from the front. The dark blue regiments 
multiply on all sides, and from their edges roll perpetually sparkling 
musketry. Their guns hurry up, and from the slope take both the Austrians 
on the extreme right and the reserves in flank. They spread away to th.e 
woods near the Prague road and fire into the rear of the Austrian gunners 
.... The lines of dark blue which came in sight from the right teemed 
from the vales below as if the earth yielded them. They filled the whole 
background of the awful picture of which Klum was the centre. They 
pressed down on the left of the Prague road. In square, in coltman, 
deployed, or wheeling hither and thither — everywhere pouring in showers 
of deadly precision — penetrating the whole line of the Austrians, still they 
could not force their stubborn enemy to fly. On all sides they met brave 
but unfortunate men ready to die if they could do no more. At the side of 
the Prague road the fight went on with incredible vehemence. The Aus- 
trians had still an immense force of artillery, and although its concentrated 
fire swept the ground before it, its effect was lost in some degree by reason 
of the rising ground above, and at last by its divergence.to so many points- 
to answer the enemy's cannon. . . . Chesta and Visa were now burning, so 
that from right to left the flames of ten villages, and the flashes of guns 
and musketry, contended with the sun that pierced the clouds for the 
honour of illuminating the seas of steel and the fields of carnage. It was 



PRUSSIAN AND AUSTRIAN, AUSTRIAN AND ITALIAN WARS. 173 

three o'clock. The efforts of the Austrians to occupy Klum and free their 
centre had failed, their right was driven down in a helpless mass towards 
Koniggratz, quivering and palpitating as shot and shell tore through it. 
' Alles ist verlore)i ! ' Artillery still thundered with a force and violence 
which might have led a stranger to such scenes to think no enemy could 
withstand it. The Austrian cavalry still hung like white thunder-clouds 
on the flanks, and threatened the front of the Prussians, keeping them in 
Bquare and sohd columns. But already the trains were streaming away 
from Koniggratz, placing the Elbe and Adler between them and the enemy," ' 

During the above campaign, the Hanoverian army is sur- 
rounded by the Prussians under General Von Falkenstein, 
after an indecisive action at Langensalza, and forced to 
capitulate. The Prussians also occupy Frankfort, and impose 
heavy contributions on the city. (German ISuitXf 

tytin^ui^l^tiSy mts appear^ no mare. During the same 
period, too, the Bavarian army is defeated by the Prussians 
at Fulda and Kissengen, and the Federal army, composed 
of the troops of Hesse-Darmstadt and of those States of 
the Bund that had sided with Austria, at Aschaffenhurg, 

Eetreat of the Austrians under Benedek to Olmiitz, and 
advance of the Prussians into Moravia. They occupy 
Briinn and threaten Olmiitz. Negotiations for an armistice 
commenced. Defeat of the Austrians at BlumenaUj near 
Presburg, by the Prussians under Prince Frederick Charles; 
concentration of the Austrian army for the defence of 
Vienna. The Emperor of the French offers his mediation ; 
m armistice is agreed upon, and peace concluded by the 
TREATY OF PRAGUE, August 23, 1866. 'The Emperor 

of Austria saw himself overmatched by the Prussians, while an immense 
portion of his forces was engaged far away f om the scene of the vital struggle, 
in holding Venetia against the Itahans. He therefore determined to sur- 
render Yenetia to France, in hopes that this would put an end at once to 
the Itahan war, and enable him to recall bis troops from the south of the 
Tyrol, and send them to confront the Prussians. The French Emperor 
accepted the surrender, and immediately telegraphed to the King of 
Prussia, offering his mediation and proposing an armistice,' 

Meanwhile, during the same year, Campaig:n in Italy, 
between Italy and Austria. Formation of volunteer 
corps under Garibaldi ; great enthusiasm in Italy, ' Fuori i 
forestieri ! ' Baron Ricasoli, Prime Minister, and General 
della Marmora, commander-in-chief, under the King him- 



174 



TREATY OF PRAGUE. 



self. War declared June 20, 1866. Defeat of the Italians 
under Delia Marmora and Princes Humbert and Amadeus, 
by the Austrians under the Archduke Albert, at Custozza, 
on theMincio, and of the Italian fleet under Admiral Persano, 
by the Austrian fleet under TegethofF, off Lissa^ on the coast 
of Dalmatia. Indecisive actions of the volunteers under 
Garibaldi near the Lago di Garda. ^^act cattclitotf IjetJXJeni 
^Xiixs antf *^ii^trta, October 3, 1866 ; Venetia is passed by 
the Emperor of the French over to Italy, and incorporated 
into the Kingdom of Italy, * and Italy is free from' the Alps 
to the Adriatic' 

By the Treaty of Prague, the union of Lombardy and 
Venice with the Italian Kingdom is consented to by 
Austria the Dissolution of the German Bund recognised ; 
the rights over the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein trans- 
ferred to Prussia ; a North German Confederation formed, 
in which Austria was to take no part ; the existence of the 
Kingdom of Saxony recognised, for the present, by Prussia ; 
and £20,000,000 paid as a war indemnity by Austria. 

IBvuiiiK qmxi "b^ ft^t Wur the incorporation into her 
dominions of the duchies of Schleswig, Holstein, and Lauen- 
burg (already annexed), of Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse- 
Homburg, part of Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, Frankfort, and 
Hohenzollern. Brunswick and many other minor states 
also become members by treaty of the North German Con- 
federation, and virtually part of the Kingdom of Prussia ; 
agreeing to place their troops under the supreme command 
of the King of Prussia. 

Address from the Hungarian Diet, in the early part of 
this year, 1866, demanding a redress of their grievances, 
restoration of their Constitution, and so forth, replied to by 
the Emperor of Austria in November of the same year, 
1866, promising reform. 

Irritation felt in France as to the territorial aggrandise- 



THE NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION. 



175 



ment of Prussia, culminates in the Luocemhurg Qiwstion ;* 
which, at one time, threatens to end in war. Luxemburg is 
neutralised by treaty^ after a Conference held in London, 
under the guarantee of Great Britain, France, Austria, 
Prussia, and Russia, 1867. 

Eatification by the Prussian Chambers of J^Ottf) 

German orcnstituti'on, and first session of 

THE NORTH GERMAN PARLIAMENT (the crea- 
tion of Count Bismarck, ' the man of blood and iron '), 
September 10, 1867. The irritation and jealousy of France 
against Prussia continues to increase j debates in the French 
Chambers on ' the Roman Question ' (the continued occu- 
pation of Rome by French troops), the affairs of Germany, 
and the new French Army Reorganisation Bill. It is 
evident that war must break out at no distant period. 

Resto7'ation of its ancie^it Constitution to Hungary hy the 
Emperor of Austria^ with the approval of the Austrian 
Reichsrath ; formation of a Hungarian Ministry, and Coro- 
nation of the Emperor and Empress of Austria, as King and 
Queen of Hungary, at Pesth, June, 1867 ; an Act of Amnesty 
is published by the Emperor at the sam.e time. Delibera- 
tions in the Austrian Reichsrath on annulling the Concordat 
of Austria with the Pope ; thus proposing to remove schools 
from the control of the clergy, to make marriage a civil 
rite, and so forth. Other measures of a liberal character, 
such as equality of all citizens before the law, liberty of 
religion, rights of petition, of speech, teaching, and writing, 
and so on, are also brought forward at the same time in 
the Austrian Reichsrath. 

Collapse in the early part of this year of the huhhle 
Empire of Mexico, after lasting scarcely a year, (owing to 
the French forces quitting Mexico under the pressure put 
upon the Emperor of the French by the President of the 

* That is, the dispute respecting the proposed cession of Luxemburg to 
France by the Kiiig of Holland. 



176 



FEELING OF FRANCE AND PRUSSIA. 



United States), and capture by tlie Juarez faction of tlie 
Emperor Ferdinand Maximilian von Hapsburg, brother of 
the present Emperor of Austria, and his execution by mili- 
tary court-martial at Queretaro, May, 1867. 

In the next year, 1868, the laws passed in the Reichs- 
rath in 1867, with regard to marriage and schools, receive 
the Imperial sanction. 

The C0nc0rtfatlMtt5 ^Qmt tlju^ birtualXg aijolt^^ctf, 
and religious freedom is established in Austria. Schools 
are thrown open to all creeds alike, and marriage made a 
matter of civil contract. Conciliatory speech of the Em- 
peror to the Hungarian Diet : his title henceforth to run, 
^Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, and Apostolic 
King of Hungary ; ' and the Imperial policy, under the prime 
ministry of Baron Beust, to be peaceful, abandoning all 
thoughts of revenge on Prussia. 

Assembly, Dec. 9, 1869, of i^t ^a'CBlittS C^ccumnttcal 
C0UUCtl at Enme, called by Pope Pius IX., attended by 
67 German Catholic Bishops, out of the 767 prelates present ; 
destined, in 1870 and 1871, to produce results unlocked for 
by the Papacy. 

Ill feeling of France against Prussia continually on the 
increase. 1868 and 1869. — The candidature of Prince 
Leopold of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen to the long-vacant 
throne of Spain (July, 1870), though afterwards vdthdrawn 
by the Prince himself, the spark that served to light up 

this tremendous conflagration : — ' Ever since Sadowa, France had 
existed in mortal jealousy of Prussian aggrandisement Pretext and oppor- 
tunity fitting, war with so formidable a rival in the leadership of Continental 
Europe would have been welcome any time, within the last few years, to a 
considerable section of the French pubhc. Add to this the Emperor's personal 
fears for his dynasty, after the late plebiscite had revealed a certain amount 
of disaffection in his army to the imperial rule ; and it seemed as desirable, 
as it was not difficult, to light the flame of public excitement with suggestions 
of Bismarckian intrigues, and of a design, on the part of the Prussian 
monarch, to plant a subservient relative on the southern frontier of 
France.' — A.B. 

Mission of M. Benedetti, the French ambassador, to Berlin, 
to extort from the King of Prussia the humiliating promise 



WAR BETWEEN NORTH GERMANY AND FRANCE. 177 



that he would write himself to excuse his having sanctioned 
Prince Leopold's candidature for the crown of Spain, and 
give an assurance that that candidature should in no case 
be renewed. His proposal is refused by the Eang of Prussia, 
and any further interview with the King denied him. 

WAR IS DSCZiARED BY PRAWCE,* July 19, 1870 : 

* in the full persuasion that the South German States, and those North. 
German States that were, in 1866, unwillingly compelled to acknowledge 
Prussian supremacy womld join France ; and that Austria would be glad 
to take revenge for Sadowa ; and that the end of the war would be, that 
France would become the arbitress of Europe, with the Rhine for a frontier 
and a divided German Nation at her side.' The proclamation of war 

is hailed with enthusiasm both at Paris and Berlin. Gross 
ignorance on the part of the French War Minister, Le- 
boeuf, and of the French Emperor and the nation generally, 
of the power of the North German Confederacy, and of 
the forces they could bring into the field j gross want of 
preparation also on the part of the French army. The 
French armed with the chassepot and the mitrailleuse, the 
Germans with the needle-gun. 

French Generals .-—The Emperor Napoleon III., in person, 
Field Marshals Mac-Mahon, Lebceuf, and Canrobert, and 
Generals Bourbaki, de Failly, L'Amirault, Bazaine, 
Douay, Frossard, and others, and later in the war, D'Au- 
relle de Paladines, Faidherbe, Chanzy, Trochu, Ducrot, and 
Garibaldi. German Generals: — The King of Prussia, Wil- 
liam L, in person, the Crown Prince, Prince Frederick 
Charles, the Crown Prince of Saxony, the King's nephew 
(the ^ Ked Prince Generals Von Moltke, the great strate- 
gist, to whom the whole plan of the campaign is due, Von 
Steinmetz, ManteufFel, Von der Tann, and others. Von 
Roon, Minister of War. 

* Read Hozier's Fi-av co-Prussian War, Parts I., II., and III., published 
by Macmillan ; the Letter's of the Daily News Cor7'espondent, Tepubliiih.ed in 
1 vol. ; the Diary of a Besieged Resident in Paris (Hurst & Blackett) ; and 
the German official account of the War by General Blum. There is a 
weekly resumi of the events of the campaign in the contemporary numbers 
of the Saturday Review, and a review of the whole at its conclusion, in 
March 187 1» 

N 



178 WAR BETWEEN NORTH GERMANY AND FRANCE. 



Austria remains neutral. Bavaria, Wtirtemburg, Saxony, 
Darmstadt, Baden, and other South German States take the 
side of the North German Confederation. 

The North German Confederation troops, at first, about 
450,000 menj the French, probably, about 800,000 or 
350,000 at most. The French fleet, which was very strong, 
did nothing of importance during the war, returning to 
France after an ineffectual blockade of the Baltic ports, 
and the capture of a few merchantmen, when a large part of 
the crews and of the heavy ships' guns was sent to assist 
in the defence of Paris. The French army of invasion, to the 
surprise of all Europe, is routed and driven back at all 
points. The German armies advance in one almost un- 
broken career of victory ; the battle of Coulmiers the only 
success during the war gained by the French. 

Organisation of the Genevese Convention, the Brothers 
of the Knights of Malta and St. John, the ' Wilhelm Stif- 
tung,' and of other voluntary associations for the aid of the 
wounded and sick in war, in Germany, and of the National 
Society, for the same purpose, in England. Revival, by the 
King of Prussia, of the Order of the Iron Cross. 

Jmmm^t inMmtt mi ft^t TOar csf f^t Eatlloap^ mxts 

' Aided by such mechanical facilities, the results 
of the discoveries of Watt, Stephenson, and Wheatstone, Germany obliterates 
the dividing lines of centuries. America by them preserved the unity which 
she had ; the Germans conquer for themselves a unity which they had 
not. France interferes, and half-a-million of soldiers are collected and 
concentrated in a fortnight ; armies, driven in like wedges, open rents 
and gaps from the Rhine to Orleans ; and at the end of two months the 
nation whose military strength was supposed to be the greatest in the 
world, was reeling, paralysed, under blows to which these modern contri- 
vances had exposed \xqv.' —Froude (Essay on Progress). 

Bombardment of Saarbrtick by the French under Fros- 
sard (the Emperor and the Prince Imperial present), the 
battles of Weissemhurg and Woerth^ won by the Crown 
Prince of Prussia over Marshal MacMahoa and General 
Douay, and of Speicheren and Forhach, won by Generals 
Goben and Steinmetz and the Crown Prince of Prussia over 



WAR BETWEEN NORTH GERMANY AND FRANCE. 179 

General Frossard. Lying bulletins at Paris. Dismay in 

the city when the truth is gradually known. The * state 

of siege ' proclaimed at Paris, and active measures taken 

for her defence ; a new ministry formed under the Empress 

as Regent ; the National Guards and the Mobiles called 

out ; General Vinoy, and afterwards General Trochu, put in 

command of the town. * At Paris things went on as if no Emperor 
existed.'— T.K 

Retreat of the French army of the Rhine towards the 
Moselle ; battle of CoiircelleSj between Stein metz and 
Frossard, who retires into Metz ] dreadful battles of Mars 
la Tour and Gravelotte, won by the King of Prussia in 
person, Prince Frederick Charles, and General Von Alvens- 

leben over Marshal Bazaine. ' These two battles were desperately 
contested. It was ectimated that between August 14th and 18th, the 
French lost in killed, wounded, and prisoners, 50,000 men.'—A.R. Marshal 

Bazaine and the remains of his army are shut up in Metz. 

* The German losses were also tprribly seyere : probably amounting to be- 
tween 30,000 and 35,000 men killed and wounded. 

' The wife of a Prussian officer -urrote : — The first rpgiment of Dragoon 
Guards went first into fire, and were so slaughtei-ed, that only 120 men 
were left ; the 2nd Dragoons were taken to make up the number of the 
1st, and were in their turn cut down. The yery flower of the Prussian 
nobihty has perished. Our friends, and famihar faces that we had m,et 
every year in society are all dead, and there is the saddest desolation." 
It appears that this great loss was caused by the French infantry, which 
had masked a line of mitrailleuses and concealed them from the advancing 
Prussian cavalry, opening out when charged, and leaving the foe exposed 
to the fire of these machines. Prince Sahn Sahn, who was with the 
Emperor Maximilan in Mexico, was one of the victims on this occasion. 
The remainder of the forces commanded by Bazaine were henceforth 
effectively shut up in Metz. They had entirely lost their communications 
both with Paris and with the retiring army of MacMahon. That army, or 
rather the broken and diminished fragment that remained of it, moved 
still towards Chalons.'— Z).iV. 

Metz is blockaded by Prince Frederick Charles and 
General Steinmetz. The French under General MacMahon, 
with the Emperor, retreat to Chalons, and thence through 
Rheims to Sedan, followed by the Crown Prince of Prussia, 
the King of Prussia in person, and the Crown Prince of 
Saxony. asiEilT BATTlsS OS* S^BAM, Sept. 1, 
1870. Total defeat of the French, and surrender of the 



]80 



SIEGE OF PARIS. 



Emperor himself, and his whole army of more than 80,000 

men. ' The spoil comprised also 70 mitrailleuses, 330 field guns, 150 fort 
guns, 10,000 horses, and the flags of all the regiments.' 

The Emperor of the French sent as a prisoner to Wil- 
helmshohe, near Cassel. A REFUBLIC IS FRO- 
CLAIMED IN PARIS, SEPT. 5. Manifesto of M. 

J ules Eavre, * ni un pouce de notre territoire, ni line pierre de nos f orte- 

resses : ' and counter manifesto of Count Bismarck. Fruitless 
attempt on the part of the French to obtain an armistice. 
The Germans march upon Paris. Paris invested by them 
Sept. 20. Surrender of Laon, and capitulation, after siege 
and bombardment, of Toul and Strasburg, after a gallant 
defence of the latter town by General Ulhrich. The pro- 
vinces of Alsace and Lorraine (// ijl'^ bee giirjlen Srug 
gerftaubf/ t?on ^aifer unb con jKeid) geraubt") are conquered 
and placed under German governors. Daring exploits of 
detachments of the German Uhlans, in advance of the main 
bodies of the German armies, on their march. 

Blockade, or siege, of various strong fortresses in France 

by the Germans. ' inside Paris the armed force of resi stance numbered 
from 350,000 to 400,000 men, regulars, Mobiles from the provinces, sailors 
from the fleet, Francs-tireurs and all included, and more were being daily 
drilled under G-eneral Trochu's command. 

Organisation throughout France of corps of Francs- 
tireurs, ' productive probably of more harm than service to the country ;' 
absurd destruction by the French themselves of railways, 
bridges^ and canals near Paris. The war assumes a cha- 
racter of great ferocity. Reprisals and executions by the 
Germans. Eang William I. of Prussia takes up his 
quarters at Versailles. M. Gambetta (who with MM. Favre, 
Cremieux and others formed the Provisional Government 
of France) escapes from Paris to Tours Oct. 7, 1870, in a 
balloon^ and becomes the soul of all the military organisations 

going on in the provinces. ' At the time M. aambetta was about to 
step into the car of his balloon, in October, the understanding between him 
and those he left behind was that they should hold out in the capital, while 
he should bring the Provinces to the rescue. We need not look back upon 
the various phases of the war to conclude that each party acquitted itself 



WAR BETWEEN NORTH GERMANY AND FRANCE. 181 



of its own share of the common task as creditably as was possible with the 
utmost exertion. As to Paris, General Trochu converted what had been the 
seat of pleasure, levity, and frivolity into a fomiidable stronghold, and 
pressed its effeminate population into a huge garrison, armed and equipped 
at all points. It will have to be inscribed among the most marvellous 
records of all sieges that the mere citizens of Paris made as firm a resistance 
as the Imperial Guard and the unbroken corps of Bazaine's army were able 
to accomplish in Metz. They did no more, it is true ; they did not break 
through the German lines and achieve their own deliverance, for that was 
from the first impossible ; but they at least tried it till the repulse of their 
repeated attempts had put the possibility of success out of the question. 
It was not, however, merely by the number of its combatants that Paris 
challenged the world's admiration. There was a battle to be fought with 
famine and disease, of which the most helpless had to bear the fiercest 
brunt ; there was that weariness of hope deferred which is most trying to 
the greatest fortitude ; and there was that temptation to passionate out- 
bursts which nothing but the most consummate sense of duty could resist. 
Should there be any doubt as to the amount of privations, ruin, and anguish 
the city had to undergo, the evidence would be supplied by the aspect of 
desolation and silence which strikes all beholders as they advance through 
the once lively thoroughfares. The sense of its long sufferings, one would 
say, has taken the very breath of life out of Paris. " Paris," says the pro- 
clamation, " was bidden to hold out a few weeks ; it has stood up for five 
months." The Provinces, too, mustered great forces to its relief ; but they 
faOed. The result of their efforts was also easily to be foreseen, at least out 
of Prance. We have never fallen into raptures of admiration before M. 
Gambetta's energy and activity, but neither do we think it was altogether 
owing to Ms interference that either D'Aurelle's, or Chanzy's, or Bourbaki's 
plans failed. It may be readily acknowledged that great mistakes have been 
committed, and instances of transcendent incapacity have occurred. That 
M. Gambetta was not a good strategist will be allowed ; but the contest, in 
our judgment, w^as hoi)ele6S from the outset. In fact, the resistance of 
France was mere self-sacrifice, and, when that was consummated, nothing 
remained but submission.' — T.2i. 

Series of fresh FrencH armies pushed on with great 
vigour, under General Bourbaki in the north, General 
D'Aurelle de Pa]adines on the Loire, Count Keratry in 
Brittany, and Garibaldi in the east. Fall of Metz, after 
many fruitless sorties had been made, October 27th. 

* Three Marshals of the Empire Canrobert, Leboeuf, and Bazaine, the 
Commandant, about 180,000 men, 3,000 guns, and 40,000,000 francs in 
treasure, fall into the grasp of the victors. A capture of such magnitude 
had hitherto been unheard of in the annals of war.' — A.R. 

Scarcity begins to prevail in Paris about the middle of 
November. Various futile negotiations for peace between 
the Government at Tours, which are carried on between 
M. Thiers., and Count Bismarck. Levy en masse decreed in 
the Provinces. France swarms with armed, but only parti- 
ally disciplined, men. 



182 WAR BEWEEN NORTH GERMANY AND FRANCE. 

Severe figliting on the Loire ; Orleans taken by General 
Von der Tann. Battle of Coulmiers (the only victory won 
by the French during the war), defeat of Von der Tann, 
with the loss of 10^000 men taken prisoners by General 
D'Aurelle de Paladines. The German army on the Loire 
is reinforced by the Duke of Mecklenburg and Prince 
Frederick Charles. Battles of Beaume la Rolande and 
Artefiiayy defeats of the French and recapture of Orleans by 
the Germans, December 4. Battles of Chevilly and Chil- 
leurs^ the French again defeated and all chances of the 
siege of Paris being raised by General D'Aurelle de Pala- 
dines at an end. He is removed from his command by 
M. Gambetta, the de facto dictator of the still unconquered 
pai*t of France, and General Chanzy appointed in his stead 
over the broken army of the Loire. 

(BxzkX ^Qxiit flf l^t JTratd), 60,000 strong, frffm iBarii^, 
supported by a tremendous fire from the forts, under 
General Ducrot, from November 29 to December 4, when 
they are finally driven back with the loss of 10,000 men, 
killed and wounded. 

" Attempts were made by the Germans to bring their artillery into play, 
but such was the imfavourable nature of the ground that it could only be 
placed in positions where the shells from the forts would have knocked 
them to pieces in five minutes. Only one or two batteries fired, and that 
under circumstances which prevented their being of much service. There 
was cavalry on both sides, but they took no part in the engagement.'— Z>.iV. 

Fighting goes on on the Loire; defeats of the French 
under Chanzy at Beaugency arid Manchenoir, by Prince 
Frederick Charles. Retreat of General Chanzy to the 
west ; Blois taken by the Germans, and the French Pro- 
visional Government removed from Tours to Bordeaux. 
Continued retreat of General Chanzy j defeat by General 
Von der Tann at Epernay^ December 17. The Germans 
occupy Tours, and soon after evacuate it. General Chanzy 
retreats to Le Mans. 

Fresh sortie from Paris by General Vinoy, under the 
idea of the city being relieved by General Faidherbe with 



WAR BETWEEN NORTH GERMANY AND FRANCE. 183 

the army of the North ; repulsed with great loss December 
21, 1870. 

Second Session during this year (1870) of the so-called 
^CU'MSM'ICAX! COimCISi OF THE VATICAM", under 
Pope Pius IX. Great opposition to the Dogma of Papal 
Infallibility (brought forward in May, 1870), by the Liberal 
Party in the Council headed by the Austrian Prelates, Car- 
dinals Schwartzenberg and Kauscher, Bishops Strossmayer 
and Hefele, and the French Prelates Darboy, Matthieu, and 
Dupanloup, and the Irish Archbishop of Tuam, McHale, 
and the American Bishops Kenrick and Fitzgerald. Their 
cause is strongly supported by the great Bavarian theologian, 
Dr. DoUinger, author of * Church History,' and one of the 
authors of ^Janus' [?], and by the Catholic professors 

of theology of Tiibingen, < who agree upon a decided protest against 
tlieabsolutepower,andpersonalinfallibiiity, of thePope.' Vote of the 

Council on the definition of the Dogma, July 13, 1870.* < The 

Council voted on the whole definition, and the result showed AOO placets, 88 
non-placets, and 60 placets juxta modum. 50 Bishops absented themselves from 
the Congregation, preferring that mode of intimating their dissent.' — S.R. 

The results of the Council, in the rise of the ^ old Catholic 
party ' in Germany, remain yet to be seen. 

Meanwhile, during November, 1870, fighting between 
the Germans under General ManteufiTel, in the north of 
France, and General Faidherbe. Defeat of the French at 
the Battle of Amiens^ November 24 ; occupation of Amiens 
by the Germans, and surrender of its citadel. Eetreat of 
Faidherbe to Lille j German detachments overrun the north 
of France, occupy Rouen and Dieppe, and threaten Havre 
and Cherbourg. Fierce Battle of Pont de Noyelle, near 
Amiens, between Generals Manteuffel and Faidherbe, 

December 23. « At Pont de Noyelle, General Manteuffel, with 24,000 
men, drove Faidherbe and 60,000 Frenchmen out of one of the strongest 
positions an army could wish to occupy.'— *S.i2. A.nd of Bapaume, 

* The dogma is supported by the Jesuits, by Archbishop Manning, and by 
most of the English Roman Catholic Prelates, and by others, on the ground 
that it gave a definite expression to the faith of the Church. 



184 NEW E3IPIRE OF GERMANY : WAR CONTINUED. 

' Both sides claimed the victory ; but the advantage plainly rested wifh 
the Germans ; for the result of the two days' engagement is that Faidherbe 
has been driven away from Paris, and that the German line is still barring 
the way to the capital.' — S.R. 

Fighting in the east of France, during October, between 
the Germans under General Von Werder, and the French 
under General Cambriel, assisted by volunteers under 
Garibaldi and his two sons. Battles of Oignon and Pasqiies^ 
defeats of the French and of Chdtillon; slight success of 
Kicciotti Garibaldi. The Germans occupy Dijon and Nuits ; 
but Garibaldi manages to hold Autun till the end of the war. 

Loss to the French of various strongholds during Novem- 
ber and December, among them Verdun, Thionville, Neu- 
Brisach, Phalsbourg, and others. 

. Fresh levy of the Landwehr, which reinforces the Ger- 
man armies to the number of 200,000 men, December. 

Dreadful sufferings of both German and French forces 
before, and in, Paris, during December, from cold and frost. 
Bombardment and taking of Mont Avron, December 29. 
The bombardment of the forts and of the town itself, but 
at a great distance, is commenced. The poor daily rationed 
in Paris. 

• Great disturbances at Lyons, towards the end of Decem- 
ber, and murder by the National Guards of the commandant 
of the town. 

During the latter part of the War, INCREASE IN 
GERMANY OF THE DESIRE FOR POLITICAL 
RECONSTRUCTION AND UNIFICATION; a feel- 
ing strongly forwarded by Bavaria. ' Meanwhile the great inter- 
nal work of Germany was in steady progress ; the bugbear which had 
hurried France into war, was becoming a reahty far more rapidly than it 
would have done, but for her jealous and ill-advised action.' 

Discussion in the North German Parliament in November 
on the Federal Treaties, the union of Germany, and the 
proposal, first made by the King of Bavaria, to offer the title 
of Emperor to the King of Prussia. 

THE XMPSRIikXi TITLE, UIGK-JTV, AND 



CAPITULATION OF PARIS. 



185 



CROWIf OFFBRBB TO TKS OF PRUSSZA, 

WXXiZaZAlVI 1., by a Deputation of the Nortli German 
Parliament, at the Palace of Versailles^ December 17, 1870, 
and accepted by him. 

Operations of General Bourbaki in the east of France 
against the German army under General Von Werder. Battle 
of ViUersexeJj January 9, 1871, the French defeated; and 
of Belfoii;, which the French in vain endeavour to relieve, 
January 15th, 16th, and 17th, when General Bourbaki is 
beaten off, and commences his retreat southwards. Battle 
of Le Mans, January 11 ; defeat of General Chanzy by the 
Grand Duke of Mecklenburg ; Chanzy retreats into Brittany. 

Increasing distress at Paris, about the end of January, 
1871. The Capitulation of Paris is now impending. « Paris is 

at last in a desperate condition : not because of its being put on short 
rations ; nor because of the G-erman fire ; nor because of the losses in the 
sorties ; nor even because of the fatal news from the provinces ; but Paris 
is sinking into her enemy's arms for want of heart in the troops that were 
to have saved her, who, ^\'ith confidence in their leaders, have lost con- 
fidence in themselves.'— iS.^. 

Capitulation of Paris, Jan. 20, 1871, and surrender of the 
forts to the Germans on the next day. « The Parisians have, at 

least, the comfort of knowing that they have done their very best. They 
have suffered much, behaved patiently, fought not very badly, and always 
seconded any appeal of the Generals to risk decisive measures. In many 
respects the resistance of Paris was highly creditable as a military per- 
formance, and as an exhibition of national spirit and patient hopeful 
patriotism, it will for ever leave its mark on the History of France.'*— 

An armistice for three weeks concluded. Part of the 
East of France especially excepted from its operation. Sur- 
render of all the army within Paris, and the imposition of a 
War Indemnity of nearly £8,000,000 on the town. The 
immediate necessities of the starving citizens were met by 
rations supplied by the humanity of the German Army. 
The town is speedily revictualled, mainly by English 
liberality. 

' London was more concerned with the care of revictualling exhausted 

* Subsequent events, and various facts that have since come out, have 
cast considerable doubt on the correctness of the opinion expressed in this 
passage by the Saturday Review, 



186 



END OF THE WAR: PEACE OF BORDEAUX. 



Paris than ^va.s the French Government, and succeeded better. From the 
reports of^ the Commission of Inquiry upon the Markets it has been 
possible to calculate the extent of the services rendered by the metropolis 
of the United Eingdom to the metropolis of the least united Republic that 
ever existed. It- is fearful to think what would have becor-e of this 
population of two millions of souls if the English waggons had not arrived 
quit« at the beginning of the time when the pro^i.sions bought by the 
G-overnment of the 4th of September were waited for in vain for weeks. 
The Lord Mayor's subscription did more for the salvation of the dying 
population than did the men who had taken upon themselves the right of 
sa,ving France, and who were causing her to perish.' — T. iV. 

Bourbaki's army, 80,000 strong, driven in great distress 
over the frontier of Nenfchatel loy General Manteuffel, 
takes refuge in Switzerland, and surrenders to the Swiss 
Government. Garibaldi, after obtaining a slight success over 
a small body of Germans at Dijon^is forced to evacuate the 
town by the army of Manteuffel, on its return from driving 
Bourbaki into Switzerland. 

\BKxi^ mttvtis tf^t German ?lrmis OT^^nti^tfaii, JHarr^ 

1st, 1871. * The siege of Paris came to its final stage on Wednesday, 
when the historic UTilan rode up the broad Avenue de la Grande Armee, 
which enters the city from the west, and halted singly at the Arc de 
Triomphe, secure in his loneliness, since behind him were 30,000 victoriows 
soldiers, prompt to revenge any insult to their comrade. The sight must 
have been a hard one for a thoughtful Frenchman to bear. The very road 
which the solitary foeman had ridden up so proudly recalls in its name the 
glories of the warriors who carried the eagles into Vienna and Berlin. 
Austria and Prussia, rising in vengeance against their conquerors, had only 
overthrown them when insatial>le ambition had dissipated French strength 
in the mountains of Portugal and the snows of Russia, and banded all 
Europe against the Empire ; and now the relics of that matchless arm}' 
have lived to see the day when Prussia alone — for Frenchmen still refuse its 
name to the new Germany— has overthrown their country in fair fight, 
dictated peace in the halls of Versailles, and entered Paris as victor. Truly, 
to those who look back from the Third Napoleon to the First, the changed 
position of France must be hard to realise, and painful to bear.'— ^. E. 

Part of Paris occupied by detachments from the Prussian 
and Bavarian armies under command of the Duke of Co- 
burg, the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, and the Princes 
Albrecht, Adalberg, and Leopold, during one day; the forts, 

and St. Denis, for some weeks. 'Another occupation of Paris has 
just passed into history. The Emperor-King showed a moderation with which 
those who knew his past life had not credited him, in declining to share the 
march in of Kameke's corps. Never has there been so shght and nominal a 
triumph in outward show ; never one in which the hostile feelings of the 
nations concerned were more bitterly engaged, the one in humiliating, the 
other in paying back humiliation with hatred.'—*?. R. 



CONSTITUTIONAL TROUBLES IN AUSTRIA. 



187 



Eeturn of the chief part of the German armies to their 
own countries, and triumphant entry of the Emperor of 
Germany into Berlin at the head of the troops, consisting of 
detachments of the whole army ; the forts round Paris and 
Departments of France still continuing in German occupa- 
tion, to be gradually evacuated as the instalments of the 
War Indemnity are paid. 

tH^ma^ of iStare ratified by the French National As- 
sembly, convened at Bordeaux, March 1st. That France cedes the 
fifth part of Lorraine, with Metz and Thionville ; and Alsace, but without 
Belfort ; and pays £200,000,000 within three years as a war indemnity. 
' Thus ended the most humihating war, followed by the most humiUating 
peace, that had for hundreds of years humiliated the pride of France.' — T. N. 

Meeting of the North German Parliament after the war. 
Address of the Emperor to his subjects. 'The Emperor meets 

his people at a time when the new departure which Europe must take 
after the late war begins to be understood. We are far enough removed 
from the actual contest to regain the power of reflection. The clouds 
have rolled from the battle-fleld, and we can see somewhat clearly. 
The most conspicuous fact is that the unity created by the war promises 
to endure, and to be carried into the civil and social relations of the 
German States. There is not yet amalgamation, but there is more than 
alhance. The spirit which united the army of Bavaria to that of the 
Prussian King has not vanished with the attainment of the common end. 
Not only political union, but the union of feelings and national aspirations 
has been advanced by the seven months of war more than by the preceding 
fifty years of reasoning and patriotic exhortation. Provincial jealousies 
have received their death-blow ; theological antipathies, which have been 
gradually lessening as a new generation grew up, are now almost extinct as 
a political power, and the dethroned Princes are being forgotten together 
with all the tangled controversy which preceded Sadowa. No one who is 
able to form a judgment of national tendencies can doubt that the Grerman 
nation has deliberately and irreversibly accepted the principle of unity 
under the presidency of the Prussian House, and that the whole movement 
of the future will be more and more towards fusion. The nation may have 
to withstand foreign attack, but cannot again suffer from internal discord. 

' Thus the German Emperor addresses what is now potentially, and will 
in time be actually, a single State. Whatever may be the internal arrange- 
ments and the partial autonomy which may be left to this or that province, 
the Germans are one to foreign Powers.' — T. JV. 

Constitutional disturbances in the Austrian Empire, where 
the Czechish element in Bohemia aspires to the same semi- 
independence that the kingdom of Hungary had already 
obtained. Kesignation of Count Beust, the Austrian prime 
minister. 

Monf ieur Thiers President of the French Republic. 



I 

1 



APPENDIX. 



I. 

THE MODEBlNr HSTAME OP GEBMANY. 

With regard to fhe derivation of the word Deutsch (German) , Deutscher^ 
and Deutschland, Prof. Max. Mliller writes me word, in answer to an enquiry 
I put to him as to its etymology, that it is rightly traced back to the Gothic 
thiodisk, the adjective of thiuda, ' people ; ' in Old High German diutisc, iu 
Middle High German diutisch ; and that it is an error to suppose it con- 
nected with Tuisco, the ancient name of the Deity (see Tacitus, Germania, 
oh. ii.) ; which latter word is most likely derived from the Sankrit i>2/M, 
the Norse Tyr, whose name we still see in our English word ' Tuesday,' and 
which is rightly connected by Grimm and Zeuss with the Anglo-Saxon 
Tiw, which m Gothic would have sounded Tiu. (See also Professor Max. 
Miiller's Lectures on the Science of Language, 2nd series, lect. x. pp. 425 and 
456 seqq.) 

As to the etymology of the word German, Professor Miiller adds in the 
same letter, ' there are many conjectures from Tacitus down to Grimm ; 
but all I can say, is, that I do not know of any defensible etymology.' The 
etymologies of Deutsch and Germanus are fully discussed in Grimm's German 
Grammar, vol. i. 3rd edit. p. 10 seqq. 



II. 

BBIEE SKETCH OP THE INVASIOINT OP THE 
CIMBRI AISTD TEUTOISTES. 

In the year 113 B.C. the Cimbri and Teutones {Kimbern und Teuionen 
[the former supposed to be Celts, the latter Gallic and Germanic tribes]), 
accompanied by their wives, children, and carrying with them their cattle, 
goods, and chattels, made their appearance at the frontiers of Italy in Nori- 
cum, under their Chiefs Bojorix and Teutoboch. They first defeated a Eoman 
army under Carbo, and then going westward into Helvetia were joined by 
the Tigurini and the Ambm'ones, and passed with them into Gaul, which 
they ravaged. The Romans in vain endeavoured to protect that portion of 
the country which belonged to them, and lost several armies in the attempt.* 
B.C. 109, 106, and 105. There is some uncertainty about their movements 
for the next two or three years, but the Cimbri appear to have separated 
from the Teutones, and to have invaded and ravaged Spain. Meanwhile 



* See, for the names of the Roman Generals, Turner's Analysis of Roman 
History, p. 64. 



190 



APPENDIX. 



Marius employed the interval in drilling and disciplining Ms forces, wliich 
he led into Gaul, and took up a position in a fortified camp near Aries. 
After in vain attempting to storm his camp, the Teutones and Amburones, 
who had again separated themselves from the Cimbri, were overtaken by 
Marius, and almost totally destroyed by him near Aquee Saxtiee (Aix, in Pro- 
vence), at the village of Pourridres, a name corrupted from Campi putridi, 
in B.C. 103 ; and their Teutoboch, their chief, was taken prisoner. Two years 
after, B.C. 101 , the Cimbri, who had forced their way into the north of Italy, 
were defeated and annihilated by Marius and Catulus at the battle of Ver- 
cellae. This was the first attack of the G-erman tribes on the Roman Empire, 
and the commencement of the long struggle that lasted nearly 600 years.* 

III. 

THE DEFEAT OF VABUS. 

' " Twice, and twice only," exclaims Suetonius, did Augustus suffer 
grievous and disgraceful defeat, and both times in G ermany." The historian 
Florus admits with candour that the Germans might rather be described as 
conquered in action than subdued in war. " Upon the Ptoman Empire," he 
says, " unbounded even by the ocean, the defeat of Yarns imposed the limit 
of the Rhine." And in the same spirit Tacitus speaks of the Roman 
emperors as celebrating triumphs over the Germans rather tha'i conquering 
them, a conquest, he adds, truly long in the achieving. More passages 
might easily be adduced, but these are sufiicient to show that the force of 
the German genius and the German sword was not altogether unknown at 
Rome ; and Rome in two ways indicated her appreciation of both. She 
availed herself of the turbulent character of the first to apply the Machia- 
vellian maxim, " divide and rule." " Oh, that our foes would ever thus be 
ready to cut each other's throats ; since in the declining destiny of an empire 
fortune can grant no greater boon than the discord of its enemies." And the 
same philosophical observer acknowledges that to the prosecution of a policy 
like this Rome owed more than to the force of arms. The second, the German 
sword, she bought off vntli gold, and employed in her OTvm ser-^dce. Even the 
great Dictator had done this. His Germanic legionaries won the battle of 
Pharsalia. For along series of years the throne of those who succeeded him 
was girt by the Goth and Frank, and guarded by their sturdy swords. The 
Pr^torian lifeguards of the emperor, in the time of Tiberius, according to the 
narrative of Tacitus, were Germans. Many writers have condemned this 
practice of barbarian enlistment, and seen in it one of the causes of the fall 
of the empire. They do not see that it was a simple necessity. It may have 
taught the discipline of Rome to the enemies of Rome ; but, without it, Rome 
could not have held Italy for a month. The degenerate rabble of foreigners 
and freedmen who filled her streets would not have stood a single shock of 
northern war ; it would be as reasonable to array the Lazzaroni of Naples 
against the German or British bayonet. 

' Such, then,— and so vsddely different from those which she bore to Gaul, — 
were the relations of Rome to Germany during the four centuries and a half 
that preceded the great crisis which historians have generally agreed to call 
the " irruption of the barbarians." In the one race we may detect the ele- 
ments of a vigorous natural life — development, progress, and dominion ; in 
the other, the seeds of a national death — coiTuption, feebleness, decay. 
Gibbon has endeavoured to sneer away the virtues of om- Teutonic ances- 



* See more in Smith's Diet, of Biog. and Myth., Art. 'Marius,' to which 
I have been indebted for a great part of the above. 



APPENDIX. 



191 



tors ; Adelnng has visited them with a still more ungenerous and systtimatic 
depreciation ; but there is no reason to dispute the general conclusions of a 
late writer :— that the G-ermans possessed a pre-eminent capacity for develop- 
ment, progress, and dominion, might be gathered from other works of Tacitus, 
even though the Germania had not been written. The attitude which the 
Germans assumed towards the Eomans on their first meeting in Gaul, and in 
their subsequent intercourse, was never that of mere savages. They did not, 
indeed, undervalue the Roman power ; they knew it was terrible, that it had 
hitherto been irresistible. They neither recklessly sought a collision with 
Csesar nor did they timidly shrink from it when they thought their rights 
invaded ; for they had a proud consciousness of what was in themselves. 
They were not overawed by the superiority which long ages of wealth and 
civilisation had conferred upon their opponents. They did not, as is the 
custom with mere savages, slink away before the face of those who came 
armed with the power of knowledge, and adorned by the arts of life ; nor did 
they seek to denationalise themselves by slavishly aping what they could not 
readily acquire. They looked their superiors boldly and calmly in the face ; 
they kept up their pride in their own race and name, and considered the 
Ubii degraded by the adoption of the Roman dress and manners. They 
quickly learned from, their enemies what it suited their purpose to know. In 
the service of the empire, they became the most skilful soldiers ; they formed 
the bravest legions ; they decided the fate of the most important battles ; 
they furnished the ablest generals and statesmen,- men who, single-handed, 
sustained the imperial throne, yet, in the very heart of the emperor's 
palace, never ceased to be Germans. And when at last they threw themselves 
upon the Roman Empire, with the determination to take possession of its 
fairest provinces, no difficulties and no disasters could deter them. Though 
often defeated, they were never conquered ; a wave might roll back, but the 
tide advanced ; they held firmly to their purpose till it was obtained ; they 
\\T:-ested the ball and sceptre from Roman hands, and have kept them until 
now.' — Sheppard, Led. on the Fall of Rome, 

IV. 

THE FALL OF HOME. 

' On the 9th of August, a.d. 378, the fatal day, the second Cannse, from 
which Rome never recovered as from that first, the young world and the old 
world met, and fought it out ; and the young world won. The light Roman 
cavalry fled before the long lances and heavy swords of the German knights. 
The knights turned on the infantry, broke them, hunted them down by 
charge after charge, and left the footmen to finish the work, 

' At least this was the second Canute, the death-warrant of Rome. Prom 
that day the end was certain, however slow. The Teuton had at last tried 
Ms strength against the Roman. The wild forest -child had found himself 
suddenly at death-grips with the enchanter whom he had feared, and almost 
worshipped, for so long ; and behold, to his own wonder, he was no more a 
child, but groAvn into a man, and the stronger, if not the cunninger, of the 
two. There had been a spell upon him ; the " Romani nominis umbra." 
But from that day the spell was broken. He had faced a Roman emperor, 
a Divus Caesar, the man-god by whose head all nations swore, rich with the 
magic wealth, wise with the magic cunning, of centuries of superhuman 
glory ; and he had killed him. and, behold, he died, like other men. That he 
had done. What was there left for him now that he could not do ? '— ii. R. 
and T. 



192 



APPENDIX. 



V. 

THE BOMAlSr AISTD THE TEUTOIsT. 

* The fall of ttie Teuton from the noble simplicity in which Tacitus beheld 
and honoured him was a work of four centuries, perhaps it was going on 
in Tacitus' own line. But the culminating point was the century which saw 
Italy conquered, and Rome sacked, by Visigoth, by Ostrogoth, by Yandal, 
till nothing was left, save fever-haunted ruins. Then the ignorant and 
greedy child, who had been grasping so long after the fair apples of Sodom, 
clutched them once and for all, and found them turn to ashes in his hands. 

' The}" had done a great work. The)' had destroyed a mighty tyranny ; they 
had parted between them the spoils wrung from all the nations ; they had rid 
the earth of a mighty man-devouring ogre, whose hands had been stretched 
out for centuries over all the earth, dragging all virgins to his den, butcher- 
ing and torturing thousands for his sport ; foul, too, with crimes for which 
their language, like our own (thank G-od), has scarcely found a name. 
Babylon the Great, drunken with the blood of the saints, had fallen at last 
before the simple foresters of the North ; but if it looks a triumph to us, it 
looked not such to them. They could only think how they had stained their 
hands in their brothers' blood. Tliey had got the fatal Nibelungen hoard ; 
but it had vanished between their hands, and left them to kill each other, 
till none was left.'— X R. and T, 

VI. 

THE PABTITIOIsT OF VERDUK". 

' In the partition treaty of Yerdun, the Teutonic principle of equal division 
among heirs triumphed over the Roman one of the transmission of an indi- 
visible empire : the practical sovereignty of all three brothers was admitted 
in their respective territories, a barren precedence only reserved to Lothar, 
wi'ih the imperial title which he already enjoyed. A more important result 
was the separation of the Gaulish and German nationalities. Their diffe- 
rence of feeling, shown already in the support of Lewis by the Germans 
against the Gallo-Franks and the Church, took now a permanent shape : 
modern Germany proclaims the era of 843 the beginning of her national 
existence, and celebrated its thousandth anniversary twenty years ago. To 
Charles the Bald was given Francia Occidentalis, that is to say, iSTeustria and 
Aquitaine ; to Lothar, who as emperor must possess the two capitals, Rome 
and Aachen, a long and narrow kingdom stretching from the North Sea to 
the Mediterranean ; Lewis received all East of the Rhine, Franks, Saxons, 
Bavarians, Austria, Carinthia, with possible supremacies over Czechs and 
Moravians beyond. Throughout these regions German was spoken ; through 
Charles's kingdom a corrupt tongue equally removed from Latin and from 
modern French. Lothar's, being mixed, and having no national basis, was 
the weakest of the three, and soon dissolved into the separate sovereignties of 
Italy, Burgundy, and Lotharingia, or, as we call it, Lorraine.' — Bryce^ H. R. E, 

VII. 
COISTRAD I. 

* The influence of Hatto and the consent of Otto placed Conrad, Duke of 
Franconia, on the imperial throne. Sprung from a newl3'--risen family, a 
mere creature of the bishop, his nobility as a feudal lord only dating from 



APPENDIX. 



193 



the period of the Babenberg feud, tie was regarded by the church as a pliable 
tool, and by the dukes as little to be feared. His weakness was quickly de- 
monstrated by his inability to retain the rich allods of the Carlovingian 
dynasty as heir to the imperial crown, and his being constrained to share 
them with the rest of the dukes ; he was, nevertheless, more fully sensible of 
the dignity and of the duties of his station, than those to whom he owed his 
election, probably expected.' — M. 

VIII. 

HENIIY THE FOWLBK. 

' The youthful Henry, the first of the Saxon line, was proclaimed King of 
Germany at Fritzlar, a.d. 919, by the majority of votes, and, according to 
ancient custom, raised upon the shield. The Archbishop of Mayence olfered 
to anoint him according to the usual ceremony, but Henry refused, alleging 
that he was content to owe his election to the grace of God and to the piety 
of the German princes, and that he left the ceremony of anointment to those 
who wished to be still more pious.' — 31. 

IX. 

OTTO THE GBEAT. 

' Otto, the son of Henry, was unanimously elected as successor to the 
throne. The feeling of respect which the newly-acquired greatness of the 
state installed into the minds of his subjects conspired with his own love of 
magnificence and display to render the coronation of this youthful prince a 
scene of more than ordinary solemnity. The choice of Aix-la-Chapelle as the 
theatre on this grand occasion demonstrated the high expectations univer- 
sally inspired by this new sovereign, on whom the spirit of Charlemagne 
seemed to rest. The entire nation, the clergy, and the nobility, vied v/ith 
each other in surrounding their monarch with a splendour equalling that 
with which the first emperor had been environed. The gigantic crown of 
Charlemagne, the sceptre, the sword, the cross, the sacred lance, and the 
golden mantle, now became objects of still deeper devotion. 

' Although Otto worthily maintained the dignity he inherited from his 
father, he scarcely merited the title of Great. He was not endowed with the 
winning frankness with which his more simple-minded father had gained 
every heart. His manner was cold and haughty ; he surrounded himself 
with etiquette, and, although by no means wanting in personal bravery, 
cwed his success more to his craftiness and good fortune than to his gene- 
rosity and magnanimity.' — M. 

X. 

HENRY IV. 

* Henry wore away two months at Spires in a fruitless solicitation to the 
pope to receive him in Italy as a penitent suitor for reconcilement with the 
church. December had now arrived ; and in less than ten weeks would be 
fulfilled the term when, if still excommunicate, he must, according to the 
sentence of Tribur,* finally resign, not the prerogatives alone, but with them 



* The Diet summoned by Hildebrand to elect a new Emperor> in case 
Henry lY. continued his resistance, was appointed to -be held at Tribur. 
See p. 54 of the essay, Hildebrand. Tribur, or Thribur, the position of 
which place is not mentioned in the Essay, was, my friend Dr. Sheppard 







194 



APPENDIX. 



the title and rank of head of the empire. No sacrifices seemed too great 
to avert this danger ; and history tells of none more singular than those to 
which the heir of the Franconian dynasty was constrained to submit. In 
the garb of a pilgrim, and in a season so severe as, during more than four 
months, to have converted the Rhine into a solid mass of ice, Henry and his 
faithful Bertha, carrying in her arms their infant child, undertook to cross 
the Alps, with no escort but such menial servants as it was yet in his power 
to hire for that desperate enterprise. Among the courtiers who had so lately 
thronged his palace, not one would become the companion of his toil and 
dangers. Among the neighbouring princes who had so lately solicited his 
alliance, not one would grant him the poor boon of a safe conduct and a free 
passage through their states. Even his wife's mother exacted from him 
large territorial cessions as the price of allowing him, and her own daughter, 
to scale one of the Alpine passes ; apparently that of the Great St. Bernard. 
Day by day, peasants cut out an upward path through the long windings of 
the mountain. In the descent from the highest summit, when thus at 
length gained, Henry had to encounter fatigues and dangers from which the 
chamois-hunter would have turned aside. Vast trackless wastes of snow 
were traversed, sometimes by mere crawling, at other times by the aid of 
rope-ladders, or still ruder contrivances, and not seldom by a sheer plunge 
along the inclined steep ; the empress and her child being enveloped, on 
those occasions, in the raw skins of beasts slaughtered on the march. 

' It was towards the end of January. The earth was covered with snow, 
and the mountain streams were arrested by the keen frost of the Apennines, 
when, clad in a thin penitential garment of white linen, and bare of foot, 
Henry, the descendant of so many kings, and the ruler of so many nations, 
ascended slowly and alone the rocky path which led to the outer gate of the 
fortress of Canossa. With strange emotions of pity, of wonder, and of scorn, 
the asfiimbled crowd gazed on his majestic form and noble features, as, 
passing through the first and the second gateway, he stood in the posture of 
humiliation before the third, which remained inexorably closed against his 
further progress. The rising sun found him there fasting ; and there the 
setting sun left him stifE with cold, faint with hunger, and devoured by 
shame and ill-suppressed resentment. A second day dawned, and wore 
tardily away, and closed, in a continuance of the same indignities, poured 
out on Europe at large in the person of her chief, by the vicar of the meek, 
the lowly, and the compassionate Redeemer. A third day came, and still 
irreverently trampling on the hereditary lord of the fairer half of the civi- 
lised world, Hildebrand once more compelled him to prolong till nightfall 
this profane and hollow parody on the real workings of the broken and con- 
trite heart. 

* The endurance of the sufferer was the only measure of the inflexibility 
of the tormentor ; nor was it till the unhappy monarch had burst away 
from the scene of his mental and bodily anguish, and sought shelter in a 
neighbouring convent, that the pope, yielding at length to the instances of 
Matilda, would admit the degraded suppliant into his presence. It was the 
fourth day on which he had borne the humiliating garb of an affected peni- 
tence, and, in that sordid raiment, he drew near on his bare feet to the more 
than imperial majesty of the church, and prostrated himself, in more than 
servile deference, before the diminutive and emaciated old man, " from the 



writes me word, on the borders of the Black Forest, not far from the modem 
Freiburg, where the little town or village of Triberg now stands. It was 
the second place of meeting of the Papal legates and the G-erman princes, 
in the month of October ; the previous one having taken place in September 
at Opi^esaheim. 



APPENDIX. 



195 



terrible glance of whose countenance," we are told, " the eye of every be- 
holder recoiled as from the lightning." Hunger, cold, nakedness, and shame 
had, for the moment, crushed the gallant spirit of the sufferer. He wept 
and cried for mercy, again and again renewing his entreaties, until he had 
reached the lowest level of abasement to which his own enfeebled heart, or 
the haughtiness of his great antagonist, could depress him. Then, and not 
till then, did the pope condescend to revoke the anathema of the Yatican.' 
^Sir Jas. Stephen's Essay ' Bildebrand,' E. E. 

XI. 

THE EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT (circa 1180) UnSTDER 
FREDERIC I. (EARBAROSSA). 

'Within the actual boundaries of the Holy Empire were included only 
G-ermany, the northern half of Italy, and the Kingdom of Aries; that is, 
Provence, Dauphine, the Free County of Burgundy (Franche-Comte), and 
"Western Switzerland (Lorraine, Alsace, and Flanders were, of course, parts of 
Germany). To the north-east, Bohemia and the Sclavic principalities in 
Mecklenburg and Pomerania were as yet not integral parts of its body, but 
ratlier dependent outliers. Bej'ond the March of Brandenburg dwelt Pagan 
Lithuanians, and Prussians, free till the establishment among them of the 
Teutonic knights. 

' Hungary had owed a doubtful allegiance since the days of Otto I. 
Gregory YII. had claimed it, as a fief of the Holy See ; Frederic wished to 
reduce it completely, but could not overcome the reluctance of his nobles. 
After Frederic 11. , by whom it was recovered from the Mongol hordes, no im- 
perial claims were made for so many years that at last they became obsolete, 
and were confessed to be so by the Constitution of Augsburg, a.d. 1566. 

' Under Duke Misico, Poland had submitted to Otto the Great, and con- 
tinued, with occasional revolts, to obey the empire till the great Interregnum. 
Its duke was present at the election of Eichard, a.d. 1258. Thereafter 
Primislas called himself king in token of emancipation, and the country be- 
came independent, though some of its provinces were long after reunited to 
the German State. Silesia, originally Polish, was, by Charles lY., attached 
to Bohemia ; Posen and Galicia seized by Prussia and Austria, a.d. 1772. 
Down to her partition in that year, the constitution of Poland remained a 
copy of that which had existed in the German kingdom in the twelfth 
century. 

' Lewis the Pious had received the homage of the Danish king Harold, on 
tis baptism at Mentz, a.d. 826 ; Otto's victories over Harold Blue Tooth 
made the country regularly subject, and added the March of Schleswig to the 
immediate territory of the empire : but the boundary soon receded to the 
Eyder, on whose banks might be seen the inscription : — 

' " Eidora Eomani terminus imperii." 

' King Peter attended at Frederic I.'s coronation, to do homage, and 
received from the emperor, as suzerain, his own crown. Since the Interreg- 
num, Denmark has been always free. 

' Otto the Great was the last emperor whose suzerainty the French kings 
had admitted ; nor were Henry YI. and Otto lY. successful in their attempts 
to revive it 

' Reliance cannot be placed on the author who tells us that Sweden Wfis 
granted by Frederic I. to AYaldemar the Dane ; the fact is improbable, aiid 
we do not hear that such pretensions were ever pnt forth before or after. 
Nor does it appear that authority was ever exercised by any emperor in 

o 2 



196 



APPENDIX. 



Spain. Nevertheless, the choice of Alfonso X. by the German electors, 
A.D, 1258, may be construed to imply that the Spanish kings were members 
of the empire. And when, a.d. 1053, Ferdinand the Great of Castile had in 
the pride of his victories over the Moors assumed the title of *' Hispanise Im- 
perator," the remonstrance of Henry III. declared the rights of Eome over 
her western provinces indelible, and the Spaniard, though protesting his in- 
dependence, was forced to resign the usurped dignity. 

' No act of sovereignty is recorded to have been done by any of the empe- 
rors in England, though, as heirs of Eome, they might be thought to have 
better rights over it than over Poland or Denmark. There was, however, a 
vague notion that the English, like other kingdoms, must depend on the 
empire : a notion which appears in Conrad III.'s letter to John of Constan- 
tinople ; and was countenanced by the submissive tone in which Frederic I. 
■was addressed by the Plantagenet Henry II. English independence was still 
more compromised in the next reign, when Richard I., according to Hove- 
den, " Consilio matris suse deposuit se de regno Angliae at tradidit illud 
imperatori (Henrico YI.) sicut universorum domino." But as Richard was 
at the same time invested with the kingdom of Aries by Henry VI., his 
homage may have been for that fief only, and it was probable in that capacity 
that he voted, as a prince of the empire, at the election of Frederic II. The 
case finds a parallel in the claims of England over the Scottish king, doubt- 
ful, to say the least, as regards the domestic realm of the latter, certain as 
regards Cumbria, which he had long held from the southern crown. But 
Germany had no Edward I. Henry YI. is said to have at his death released 
Richard from this submission (this, too, may be compared with Richard's 
release to the Scottish William the Lion), and Edward II. declared, " regnum 
Angliee ab omni subjectione imperiali esse liberrimum." Yet the idea sur- 
vived : the Emperor Lewis the Bavarian, when he named Edward III. his 
vicar in the great French war, demanded, though in vain, that the English 
monarch should kiss his feet. Sigismund, visiting Henry Y. at London, 
before the meeting of the Council of Constance, was met by the Duke of 
Gloucester, who, riding into the water to the ship where the emperor sat, 
required him, at the sword's point, to declare that he did not come purposing 
to infringe on the king's authority in the realm of England. One curious 
pretension called forth many protests. It was declared by civilians and 
canonists that no public notary could have any standing, or attack any 
legality to the documents he drew, imless he had received his diploma from 
the emperor or the pope. A strenuous denial of a doctrine so injurious was 
issued by the Parliament of Scotland under James III.' — Bryce, H. R. E. 



XII. 

BARBABOSSA'S CBUSADB AISTD DEATH. 

* The situation of the Christians in the East became gradually more per- 
plexing. The treachery practised by the Greeks and the Pullanes during the 
last Crusade towards the Emperor Conrad III., and Louis YIL, gradually 
met with its fitting reward, although the disputes that arose among the 
Mahomedans were at first in their favour. Zengis the Great had been suc- 
ceeded by his son Nurreddin, who was opposed by the Egyptian caliphs, and 
whose son was deprived of his throne by a new aspirant, named Salaheddin, 
who, uniting Syria and Egypt beneath his rule, subdued, the Assassins, the 
most dangerous enemies of the Sultans, and attacked the weak and de- 
moralised Christians, whose strength had been spent in intestine feuds. 

' Aiter the departure of Conrad III. and Louis YIL, whose fruitless expe- 
ditions had ended in anger and disappointment, Baldwin III., the youthful 



APPEKDIX. 



197 



King of Jeru'-alem, besieged his own motlier, Melisenda, Fulke's widow, who 
refused to abdicate the sovereignty, in the city of David. The knights, how- 
ever, still possessed sufficient zeal and courage to repel an attack made by the 
Turks on the holy city, and even to gain possession of Ascalon (a.d. 1153). 
Raymund of Tripolis, the son of Pontius, fell, meanwhile, by the hand of an 
assassin, but was well replaced by his gallant son Raymund. RajTnund of 
Antioch had also fallen, and his widow, Constantia, had espoused the savage 
knight, Reinald de Chatillon, who shamefully ill-treated the patriarch of 
Antioch. The patriarch of Jerusalem, with whom the different orders of 
knighthood were at variance, found it impossible to maintain his authority ; 
the knights of St. John sent a flight of arrows among the people in the 
church of the Holy Sepulchre. Baldwin, breaking his plighted word with a 
peaceable Arabian tribe, was severely chastised for his insincerity by Nur- 
reddin, by whom he was so closely pursued, after losing a battle, as barely to 
escape with his life. At this conjuncture, Dietrich of Flanders fortunatiely 
revisited the East, and Nurreddin was defeated. Baldwin was poisoned, 
A.D. 1159. He was succeeded by his brother, Amalrich, who undertook a 
predatory excursion, in which he was successful, into Egj^Dt, and, aided by 
Dietrich, was victorious over Nurreddin, by whom he was, however, defeated 
in a second engagement. Reinald had, some time before this, been taken 
prisoner, and his stepson, the son of Raymund and Constantia, Bohe- 
mund III. of Antioch, shared a similar fate, a.d. 1163. Amalrich now 
leagued with the Fatimite caliphs in EgjT^t against Nurreddin, and was at 
first successful, but turning against his allies and attempting to seize Egypt, 
Adad, caliph of Cairo, a youth of nineteen years of age, entreated the Sultan 
Nurreddin for aid, sending to him, in token of extreme necessity, the hair of 
all the women in his harem. Amalrich was again attacked by the miited 
Mahomedan forces, and disgracefully put to flight. His subsequent attempt 
against Damietta, although seconded by a Grecian fleet, failed ; Nurreddin, 
meanwhile, fixed himself in Egypt, and reduced the Fatimites, like the Abas- 
sid^ in Bagdad, beneath the Turkish yoke. His vice-regent, Salaheddin, 
afterwards seized the sovereignty in Egypt, and put the unfortunate Adad, 
the last of the Fatimites, to death. 

' Henry the Lion, who visited Jerusalem in 1171, might have saved Egypt, 
but merely contented himself with paying his devotions at the sepulchre, 
and returned home without drawing his sword against the infideis. The 
other troops of pilgrims that arrived singly and few in number were utterly 
powerless. In 1174, Henry, bishop of Hildesheim, made a pilgrimage to the 
Holy Land, but all his followers were lost at sea, and he alone escaped on a 
plank. Amalrich died in 1175. His youthful son and successor, Baldwin IV., 
defeated Salaheddin (who, on the death of Nurreddin, had usurped the sove- 
reignty), although abandoned by Philip of Flanders, w^ho, disappointed in 
his project of placing the crov^m of Jerusalem on his own head, had returned 
home with his forces, A.D. 1177. Reinald, who had been restored to liberty, 
now regained courage, and boldly marched against Mecca, wdth the intention 
of destroying the Caaba, the object of Mahomedan adoration, but was repulsed 
•with great loss, a.d. 1182. Salaheddin swore to punish his insolence, sacri- 
ficed all the Christians belonging to Reinald"s army, who had fallen into his 
hands, on the Caaba, and strengthened his authority in Syria, in order to 
surround the Christians on every side. At that time the patriarch of Jerusa- 
lem, Heraclius, was to be seen surrounded by courtesans, on whom be 
lavished the gifts offered by the pious pilgrims at the shrine. Vice and folly 
paved the way to ruin. Baldwin IV. became blind and died ; his son, Bald- 
win v., a child of five years old, was probably murdered, and G-uido de 
Lusignan, a man of weak intellect, who had wedded Sibylla, the sister of 
Baldwin IV., was placed on the throne, whose possession was disputed by 
Eajmund of Tripolis, the bravest of the Christian knights in the East. This 



198 



APPENDIX. 



dispute was turned to adrantage by Salaheddin, w"ho defeated and almost 
annihilated the Templars and Hospitallers. A pitched battle took place, 
A.D. 1187, between him and the Christian princes, near the Lake of Tiberias, 
in which he was again successful. In this battle the holy cross was irre- 
trievably lost. King Guido, Keinald the Wild, the aged Margrave William 
of Montserrat (by origin a German, and vassal to the German emperor), the 
grand-master of the Teniplars, several bishops and knights, fell into the 
hands of the enemy. Reinald was put to death. Salaheddin, quickly fol- 
lowing up this advantage, seized all the cities of Palestine, except Antioch, 
Tripolis, and Tyre. Jerusalem was for some time valiantly defended by the 
Queen Sibylla, but finally surrendered. A German knight greatly distinguished 
himself during this siege, by the valour with which he resisted the Turks 
when storming the city. The Christians were granted a free exit ; Salahed- 
din beholding them, as they quitted the city in mournful procession, from a 
lofty throne, October oOth, 1187. All the churches, that of the Holy Sepulchre 
alone excepted, were reconverted into mosques. And thus was Jerusalem 
lost by the incapacity of her French rulers, and the whole of Palestine would 
inevitably have again fallen a prey to the Turks, had not Conrad of Mont- 
serrat, the son of the captive margrave, encouraged the trembling citizens of 
Tyre to make head against Salaheddin. 

' William, bishop of T3Te, the most noted of the historians of his times, 
instantly hastened into the West, for the purpose of demanding assistance. 
The pious emperor, then in his seventieth year, joyfully took up the cross 
for the second time, and with him his son, Frederic of Swabia, Philip of 
Flanders, Hermann of Baden, Berthold von Meran (a renowned crusader, the 
father of St. Louis, and grandfather of St. Elizabeth), Florens of Holland, 
Engelbert von Berg, Ruprecht of Nassau, the Counts von Henneberg, Diez, 
Saarbrtick, Salm, Wied, Bentheim, Hohenlohe, Elilburg, Oettingen, all men 
of note, Leopold of Austria, and the flower of German chivalry, in all, one 
hundred thousand men. Barbarossa, after sending a solemn declaration of 
war to Salaheddin, broke up his camp a.d, 1188 ; met with a friendly recep- 
tion from Bela, King of Hungary, held a magnificent tournament at Belgrade, 
hanged all the Servians, whose robber bands harassed him on his march, 
that fell into his hands, as common thieves, and advanced into the plains of 
Koumelia. The G-reek emperor, Isaac, who was on friendly terms with him, 
and had promised to furnish his army with provisions, broke his word, and, 
besides countenancing the hostility with which the crusaders were treated 
by his subjects, threw the Count von Diez, whom Frederic sent to him, into 
prison. Barbarossa, upon this, gave his soldiery licence to plunder, and the 
beautiful country was speedily laid waste. The Cumans, Isaac's mercenaries, 
fied before the Germans, who revenged the assassination of some pilgrims 
by destroying the city of Manicava, and by putting 4,000 of the inhabitants 
to the sword. The large city of Philippopolis, where the sick and wounded 
Germans who had been left there had been mercilessly slaughtered by the 
inhabitants, shared the same fate. These acts of retributive justice per- 
formed, Barbarossa advanced against Constantinople, where Isaac, in order 
to secure his capital from destruction, placed his whole fleet at his disposal. 
The crusaders no ? ooner reached Asia Minor, than the Greeks recommenced 
their former treacherous practices, and the Sultan of Iconium, who, through 
jealousy of Salaheddin' s power, had entered into a friendly alliance with the 
emperor, also atta.cked him. Barbarossa defeated all their attempts. On 
one occasion, he concealed the flower of his troops in a large tent, the gift 
of the Hungarian queen, and pretended to fly before the Turks, who no 
sooner commenced pillaging the abandoned camp than the knights rushed 
forth and cut them do^vn. A Turkish prisoner who was driven in chains in 
advance of the army, in order to serve as guide, sacrificed his life for the 
sake of misleading the Christians amid the pathless mountains, where. 



APPENDIX. 



199 



Bfcarring witli hunger, tormented with thirst, foot-weary and faint, they 
were suddenly attacked on every side. Stones were rolled upon their heads 
as they advanced through the narrow gorge, and the young Duke of Swabia 
narrowly escaped, his helmet being struck olf his head. Peace was now 
offered by the Turks on payment of a large sum of money ; to this the 
omperor replied by sending them a small silver coin, which they were at 
liberty to divide among themselves, and pushing boldly forwards, beat off 
the enemy. The sufferings of the army rapidly increased ; water was no- 
where to be discovered, and they were reduced to the necessity of drinking 
the blood of their horses. The aged Emperor encouraged his troops by his 
words, and was answered by the Swabians, who raised their native war-song. 
His son, Frederic, hastened forwards with half the army, again defeated the 
Turks, and fought his way to Iconium, entered the city with the retreating 
enemy, put all the inhabitants to the sword, and gained an immense booty. 
Barbarossa was, meanwhile, surrounded by the Sultan's army. His soldiers 
were almost worn out with fatigue and hunger. The aged Emperor, be- 
lieving his son lost, burst into tears. All wept around him ; when suddenly 
rising he exclaimed, " Christ still lives, Christ conquers! " and heading his 
chivalrjr to the assault, they attacked the enemy, and gained a complete vic- 
tory. Ten thousand Turks were slain. Several fell beneath the hand of 
Barbarossa himself, who emulated in his old age the deeds of his youth. 
Iconium, where plenty awaited them, was at length reached. After recruit- 
ing here, they continued their march as far as the little river Calicadnus 
(Seleph), in Cilicia, where the road happening to be blocked up with beasts 
of burden, the impatient old emperor, instead of waiting, attempted to 
cross the stream on horseback, and was carried away by the current. His 
body was recovered, and borne by his sorrowing army to Antioch, where it 
was entombed in St. Peter's Church, a.d. 1190. 

' The news of the death of their great emperor was received with incre- 
dulity by the Germans, whose dreamy hope of becoming one day ruled by a 
dynasty of mighty sovereigns, who should unite a peaceful world beneath 
their sway, at length almost identified itself with that of Barbarossa's return, 
and gave rise to legendary tales, which still record the popular feeling of the 
times. In a deep rocky cleft, in the Kylfhauser Berg, on the Golden Meadow 
of Thuringia, still sleeps this great and noble emperor : his head resting on 
his arm, he sits by a granite block, through which his red beard has grown 
in the lapse of time ; but, when the ravens no longer fly around the moun- 
tain, he will awake and restore the golden age to the expectant world. 
According to another legend, the Emperor sits, wrapped in sleep, in the 
XJntersberg, near Salzburg ; and when the dead pear-tree on the Walserfeld, 
which has been ctit down three times, but ever grows anew, blossoms, he will 
come forth, hang his shield on the tree, and commence a tremendous battle, 
in which the whole world will join, and the good shall overcome the wicked. 
The attachment which the Germans bore to this emperor is apparent in the 
action of one solitary individual, Conrad von Boppard, who bestowed a large 
estate on the monastery of Schonau, on condition of masses being read for ever 
for the repose of the soul of his departed sovereign. The little church on the 
Hohenstaufen, to which it was Barbarossa's custom to descend from the 
castle in order to hear mass, still stands, and over the walled-up doors may 
be read the words, " hie transibat Caesar." Excellent portraits of Frederic 
and Beatrice may still be seen to the right of the door of the church at 
Welzheim , which was founded by their son Philip. But the great palace, 
710 feet in length, which he built at Gelnhausen, in honour of the beautiful 
Gela, who is said to have been the mistress of his youthful afEections, an(? 
who renounced him against his will and took the veil, in order not to be an 
obstacle in his glorious career, lies in ruins.' — M, 



200 



APPENDIX. 



XIII. 

THE GUEIiFS AISTD GHIBELLINES. 

* The mere changre of time and circumstances may alter the character oi 
the same party without any change on its own part : its triumph may be at 
one time an evil and at another time a good. This is owing to a truth 
which should never be forgotten in all political enquiries, that government i3 
wholly relative, and that there is and can be no such thing as the best 
government absolutely suited to all periods and to all countries. It is a 
fatal error in all political questions to mistake the clock ; to fancy that it is 
still forenoon when the sun is westering ; that it is early morning when the 
sun has already mounted high in the heavens. No instance of this import- 
ance of Teading the clock aright can be more instructive than the great 
quarrel ordinarily known as that of the G-uelfs and Grhibellines. I may 
remind you that these were respectively the parties which embraced the 
papal and the imperial cause in the struggle between those two powers in 
Italy and Germany from the eleventh century onwards to the fourteenth. 
Here, as in all other actual contests, a great variety of principles and passions, 
and instincts, so to speak, were intermingled ; we must not suppose that it 
was anything like a pure struggle on what may be called the distinguishing 
principle of the G-uelf or Ghibelline cause. But the principle in itself was 
this : whether the papal or the imperial, in other words, the sacerdotal or the 
regal, power was to be accounted the greater. Now conceive the papal 
power to be the representative of what is moral and spiritual, and the impe- 
rial power to represent only what is external and physical ; conceive the first 
to express the ideas of responsibility to G-od and paternal care and guidance, 
while the other was the mere embodying of selfish might like the old G-reek 
tyrannies ; and who can do other than wish success to the papal cause ? who 
can help being with all his heart a G-uelf ? But in the early part of the 
struggle this was to a great degree the state of it : the pope stood in the 
place of the church ; the emperor was a merely worldly despot, corrupt and 
arbitrary. But conceive, on the other hand, the papacy to become the 
representative of superstition and of spiritual tyranny, while the imperial 
power was the expression of and voice of law ; that the emperor stood in 
the place of the church, and the pope was the mere priest, the church's 
worst enemy ; and this was actually the form which the contest between the 
sacerdotal and regal powers assumed at a later period ; then our sympathies 
are changed, and we become no less zealously Ghibelline than we before were 
Guelf.' — Arnold, Led. on Hist, 

XIV. 

RUDOLE VON HABSBXma. 

* The people, unforgetf ul of their ancient glory, again desired an emperor, 
and the legendary superstition concerning the return of Barbarossa once 
more revived. The lower and weaker classes throughout the empire were 
bitterly sensible of the want of the protection of the crown, but the election 
of a successor to the throne would have been still longer neglected by the 
princes, had they not felt the necessity of setting a limit to the ambitious 
designs of Ottocar of Bohemia. A conference accordingly took place between 
them and the pope, and the election was not proceeded with until a fitting 
tool for their purposes had been discovered, and their prerogatives guarded 
by conditions and stipulations. The qualities required in the new emperor 
were courage and warlike habits, in order to insure a triumph over Ottocar ; 



APPENDIX. 



201 



a certain degree of popularity for the purpose of cajoling the people, and the 

blindest submission to the authority of the pope and princes. 

' This political tool was found in Rudolf, Count von Habsburg, who had 
been held at the fount by Frederic II., a mark of distinction bestowed by 
that monarch for his father's faithful services. Rudolf had fought in 
Prussia (whither he had undertaken a crusade in expiation of the crime of 
burning down a convent during a feud with Basle) for Ottocar, by whom he 
had been knighted, and had since that period fought with equal bravery and 
skill for ever}'' party that chanced to suit his interests, at one moment aid- 
ing the nobles in their innumerable petty feuds against the cities of Strass- 
burg and Basle, at another fighting under the banner of Strassburg against 
the bishop and the nobility, or making head in his own cause against the 
abbot of St. Gall, and his own uncle, the Count von Kyburg, on account of a 
disputed inheritance, &c. Werner, archbishop of Mayence, whom Rudolf 
had escorted across the Alps, mediated in his favour with the pope. He had 
also personally recommended himself as a zealous G-uelf to the Pope Gre- 
gory X. at Mugello in the Apennines, and notwithstanding the feuds he had 
formerly carried on with the bishops and abbots, now plaj^ed the part of a 
most humble servant of the church : he gained great fame, on one occasion, 
by leaping from his saddle, and presenting his horse to a priest who was 
carrying the pyx. He agreed, if elected, to yield unconditional obedience to 
the pope, to renounce all claim upon or interference with Italy, and to enter 
into alliance with the House of Anjou. Frederic von HohenzoUem, Burg- 
grave of Nuremburg (the ancestor of the Electors of Brandenburg and of 
the royal line of Prussia) , acted as his mediator with the princes, to three of 
the most powerful among whom he offered his daughters in marriage, — to 
Louis of Pfalz-Bavaria (the cruel murderer of his first wife), Mechtilda ; to 
Otto of Brandenburg, Hedwig ; and to Albert of Saxony, Agnes. He more- 
over promised never to act, when emperor, without the consent of the 
princes ; on every important occasion to obtain their sanction in writing, 
and confirmed them all, Ottocar of Bohemia excepted, in the possession of 
the territory belonging to the empire, and of the hereditary lands of the 
Staufen illegally seized by them. That the election of a new emperor by 
the pope and the princes merely hinged upon these conditions was per- 
fectly natural, the whole power lying in their hands. This was the simple 
result of the downfall of the Staufen, and of the defeat of the Ghibellines. 

' Rudolf, who was engaged in a feud with the city of Basle when Prederic 
von ZoUern arrived with the news of his election, instantly concluded peace 
with that city, marched down the Rhine, and was crowned at Aix-la- 
Chapelle, a.d. 1273. The real imperial crown and the sceptre were still in 
Italy ; the latter was supplied, by way of flattery to the church, by a crucifix. 
The ceremony of coronation was enhanced by that of the marriage of his 
three daughters. Henry of Bavaria, the brother of Louis, was, after some 
opposition, also won over, and his son Otto wedded to his fourth daughter, 
Catherina. The lower classes in the empire were, nevertheless, filled with 
discontent. The coalition between the great vassals inspired them with the 
deepest apprehension. They were, however, pacified. The lower nobility, 
who had rendered themselves hated by their rapine and insolence, were at 
strife with the towns. Rudolf, who had, up to this period, been a mere mili- 
tary adventurer, a robber knight, now headed the great princes against his 
former associates, and reduced them all, even the wild Count Eberhard of 
Wtirtemberg, to submission. 

' The emperor continued henceforward to suppress petty feuds in person, 
and travelled from one diet to another for the purpose of passing resolutions 
for the peace of the country, and from one province to another for that of 
enforcing peace. He was surnamed the liviug or wandering law (lex animata), 
and numbers of his magnajiimous and just actions and sayings became 
proverbial.'— J/. 



202 



APPENDIX, 



xv. 

BBIEF SKETCH OF THE RISE OF THE PAPAL 
PBETENSIOI^rS. 

*In the ninth centurj', the power of the papacy was wholly spiritual. 
'VS^'hen an emperor marched on Piome to chastise the pontiff's contumacy, he 
met with no show of resistance, but with a parade of sacred ceremonies and 
solemn anthems, until he shrank appalled from the sacrilege he had been 
about to commit. But in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, instead of its 
previously slow and cautious progress, it advanced with alarming strides. 
From the time of Gregory the Great to the time of Charlemagne, its efforts 
had been directed to the establishment of its primacy and metropolitan 
jurisdiction over the whole church. But even after it had obtained high 
authority as the chief antagonist of Iconoclasm and Islamism, and as the 
protege of Charlemagne, an authority which was indefinitely increased by 
the False Decretals, it found this no easy task. The French bishops of 
Louis le Debonnaire retorted on the pope, who menaced them with his 
thunders if they persisted in their loyalty, by a counter-threat of excommu- 
nication — "Si excommunicaturuus venerit, excommunicatus abibit." Al- 
ready had one bold voice, that of Claudius of Turin, broached the heretical 
doctrine that the apostolical power of St. Peter ceased with St. Peter. 
Nevertheless, the papal pretensions became more and more overweening 
during the later Carlovingians, till they almost anticipated the daring ag- 
gressions made on the crown in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. During 
the tenth century, the pontiffs were men of worthless character personally ; 
their poAver was crippled by the progress of feudalism, and the Hungarian 
and Saxon invasions ; and they found it their interest to take shelter again 
under the wing of the empire. The Othos, if they did not pretend to dic- 
tate cn theological tenets, as Charlemagne had done, were, at all events, 
ecclesiastically as well as civilly supreme at Rome. From the time of Otho 
the Great, the nomination of the popes, and confirmation of their election, 
was the established imperial prerogative ; and in the middle of the eleventh 
century three popes in succession were actually appointed by Henry III. 
Even Hildebrand refused to assume the tiara till Henry IV. had ratified the 
cardinals' choice. But he soon threw aside the mask of moderation. The 
reformation of the church was followed by the successful excommunication 
of the emperor ; and the disappearance of the imperial stamp from the 
Roman coinage, together with the abandonment of imperial interference in 
the papal election, marked the reversed position of the two parties. Then 
came the era of the crusades, and along with it the immense aggrandisement 
of the clergy generally, and the papacy in particular. The violence of 
Henry V. only injured his own cause. French influence began to preponde- 
rate over German (vol. Ixxxiv. No. clxvi. — New series, vol. xxviii. No. ii.) 
influence at Rome ; and finally, at the election of Lothaire, it is no longer 
the imperial sanction which is considered requisite to the election of the 
pope, but the papal sanction to the election of the emperor.' — West. Rev. for 
Oct. 1865. 

XVL 

THE EMPEROR SIGISMTJirD. 

' Sigismund was now sole and uncontested emperor. The schism in the 
empire had been extinguished, first, by the death of the Emperor Rupert, 
then by that of Jodoc of Moravia, the competitor of Sigismund. He wafi 



APPENDIX. 



208 



the most powerful emperor who for many years had worn the crown of Ger- 
many, and the one unoccnpied sovereign in Europe. Franr-e and England 
were involved in ruinous war. Henry V., by the battle of Agincourt, had 
hopes of the conquest at least of half France. Prance, depressed by the 
melancholy lunacy of the king, by the long implacable feuds of the Armag- 
nacs and Burgundians, by the English victories, had sunk far below her 
nsual station in Christendom. Sigismund, as emperor, had redeemed the 
follies, vices, tyrannies of his youth. On his accession Sigismund declared 
that he should devote himself to the welfare of his subjects, as well in his 
own dominions as in the empire. His conduct justified his declaration. He 
enacted and put in execution wise laws. He made peace by just mediation 
between the conflicting principalities. He was averse to war, but not from 
timidity. His stately person, his knightly manners, his accomplishments, 
his activity, which bordered on restlessness, his magnificence, which struggled, 
sometimes to his humiliation, with his scanty means, had cast an unwonted 
and imposing grandeur, which might recall the great days of the Othos, the 
Henrys, the Frederics, around the imperial throne. 

* But nothing so raised and confirmed the influence of Sigismund as hig 
avowed and steadfast resolution to terminate the schism in the church, and 
to compel the reformation of the clergy so imperiously demanded by all 
Christendom. This could be accomplished only by a general council, a 
council of greater authority, and more fully representing all the kingdoms and 
the whole hierarchy of Christendom, than that of Pisa.' — Mil. Hist, of L. C. 

XYII. 

THE BOHEMIAINT WAR AND JOHTsT ZISCA. 

* The Bohemians found at their head one of those extraordinary men 
whose genius, created by nature, and called into action by fortuitous events, 
appears to borrow no reflected light from that of others. John Zisca had 
not been trained in any school which could have initiated him in the science 
of war : that, indeed, except in Italy, was still rude, and nowhere more so 
than in Bohemia. But, self-taught, he became one of the greatest captains 
who had appeared hitherto in Europe. It renders his exploits more marvel- 
lous that he was totally deprived of sight. Zisca has been called the 
inventor of the modem art of fortification : the famous mountain near 
Prague, fanatically called Tabor, became by his skill an impregnable 
entrenchment. For his stratagems, he has been compared to Hannibal. In 
battle, being destitute of cavalry, he disposed at intervals ramparts of car- 
riages filled with soldiers to defend his troops from the enemy's horse. Hia 
own station was by the chief standard, where, after hearing the circum- 
stances of the situation explained, he gave his orders for the disposition of 
the army. Zisca was never defeated, and his genius inspired the Hussites 
with such enthusiastic affection that some of those who had served under 
him refused to obey any other general, and denominated themselves Orphans, 
in commemoration of his loss. He was indeed a ferocious enemy, though 
some of his cruelties might, perhaps, be extenuated by the law of retaliation, 
but to his soldiers affable and generous, dividing among them aU the spoil.' — 
Eallam, M. A, 

XYIII. 
HUlSrmADES. 

* The last and the most splendid service of Hunniades was the relief of 
Belgrade. That strong city was besieged by Mahomet II. three years aftnr 
ths fall of Constantinople ; its capture would have laid open all Hungary. 



204 



APPENDIX. 



A tumultuary army, chiefly collected by tlie preaching of a friar, wag 
entmsted to Hunniades ; lie penetrated into the city, and having repulsed 
the Turks in a fortunate sally, wherein Mahomet was wounded, had the 
honour of compelling him to raise the siege in confusion. The relief of Bel- 
grade was more important in its effect than in its immediate circumstances. 
It revived the spirits of Europe, which had been appalled by the increasing 
victories of the infidels. Mahomet himself seemed to acknowledge the 
importance of the blow, and seldom afterwards attacked the Hungarians.' — 
Hallam, M. A. 

XIX. 

MAXIMILIAlSr I. 

* During Maximilian's eventful reign several efforts were made to construct 
a new constitution, but it is to G-erman, not to imperial history, that they 
properly belong. Here indeed the history of the Holy Empire might close, 
did not the title unchanged beckon us on, and were it not that the events of 
latter centuries may in their causes be traced back to times when the name 
of Eoman was not wholly a mockery. It can only be remarked that, while 
the preservation of peace, and the better administration of justice, was in 
some measure attained by the public peace and imperial chamber established 
in A.D. 1495, objects more important still failed through the bad constitution 
of the diet, and the unconquerable jealousy of the emperors and the estates. 
Maximilian refused to have his prerogative, indefinite, though weak, restricted 
by the appointment of an administrative council, and when the estates ex- 
torted it from him did his best to ensure its failure. In the diet, which con- 
Bisted of three colleges, electors, princes, and cities, the lower nobility and 
knights of the empire were unrepresented, and resented every decree that 
affected their position, refusing to pay taxes in voting which they had no voice. 
The interests of the princes and the cities were often irreconcilable, while the 
strength of the crown would not have been suflQcient to make its adhesion to 
the latter of any effect. The policy of conciliating the Commons, which 
Bigismund had tried, succeeding emperors seldom cared to repeat, content 
to gain their point by raising factions among the territorial magnates, and 
BO to stave off the unwelcome demand for reform.' — Br, H, B, JS, 



XX. 

CHARLES V.'s EXPEDITIOTsT AaAI]SrST ALGIERS. 

The voyage from Majorca to the African coast was not less tedious, or full 
of hazard, than that which he had just finished. "When he approached the 
land, the roll of the sea, the vehemence of the winds, would not permit the 
troops to disembark. But at last the emperor, seizing a favourable oppor- 
tunity, landed them without opposition not far from Algiers, and imme- 
diately advanced towards the town. To oppose this mighty army, Hascen 
had only eight hundred Turks and five thousand Moors, partly natives of 
Africa, and partly refugees from G-ranada. He returned, however, a fierce and 
haughty answer when summoned to surrender. But with such a handful of 
soldiers, neither his desperate courage nor consummate skill in war could 
have long resisted forces superior to those which had defeated Barbarossa at 
the head of sixty thousand men, and which had reduced Tunis in spite of all 
his endeavours to save it. 
• But how far soever the emperor might think himself beyond the reach 



APPENDIX. 



205 



of any danger from the enemy, lie was suddenly exposed to a more dreadful 
calamity, and one against which, human prudence and human efuorts availed 
nothing. On the second day after his landing, and before he had time for 
anything but to disperse some light-armed Arabs, who molested his troops on 
their march, the clouds began to gather, and the heavens to appear with a 
fierce and threatening aspect. Towards evening, rain began to fall, accom- 
panied with a violent wind ; and the rage of the tempest increasing during 
the night, the soldiers, who had brought nothing ashore but their arms, 
remained exposed to all its fury, without tents, or shelter, or cover of any 
kind. The ground was soon so wet that they could not lie down on it ; their 
camp, being in alow situation, was overflowed with water, and they sank at 
every step to the ankles in mud ; while the wind blew with such impetuosity 
that, to prevent their falling, they were obliged to thrust their spears into the 
ground, and to support themselves by taking hold of them. Hascen was too 
vigilant an ofl&cer to allow an enemy in distress to remain unmolested. 
About the dawn of morning, he sallied out with soldiers, who, being screened 
from the storm under their own roofs, were fresh and vigorous. A body of 
Italians, who were stationed nearest the city, dispirited and benumbed with 
cold, fled at the :ipproach of the Turks. The troops at the post behind them 
discovered greater courage ; but as the rain had extinguished their matches, 
and wetL-ed their powder, their muskets were useless ; and having scarcely 
strength enough to handle their other arms, they were soon thrown into con- 
fusion- Almost the whole army, with the emperor himself in person, wag 
obliged to advance before the enemy could be repulsed, who, after spreading 
such general consternation, and killing a considerable number of men, retired 
at last in good order. 

'But all feeling or remembrance of this loss and danger was quickly 
obliterated by a more dreadful as well as affecting spectacle. It was now 
broad day ; the hurricane had abated nothing of its violence, and the sea 
appeared agitated with all the rage of which that destructive element is 
capable : all the ships, on which alone the whole army knew that their safety 
and subsistence depended, were seen driven from their anchors, some dashing 
against each other, some beat to pieces on the rocks, many forced ashore, and 
not a few sinking in the waves. In less than an hour, fifteen ships of war, 
and a hundred and fifty transports, with eight thousand men, perished ; and 
such of the unhappy crews as escaped the fury of the sea were murdered 
without mercy by the Arabs as soon as they reached land. The emperor 
stood in silent anguish and astonishment beholding this fatal event, which at 
once blasted all his hopes of success, and bm'ied in the depths the vast stores 
which he had provided, as well for annoying the enemy as for subsisting his 
own troops. He had it not in his power to afford them any other assistance 
or relief than by sending some troops to drive away the Arabs, and thus 
delivering a few who were so fortunate as to get ashore from the cruel fate 
which their companions had met with. At last the wind began to fall, and 
to give some hopes that as many ships might escape as would be suflBcient to 
save the army from perishing by famine, and transport them back to 
Europe. But these were only hopes ; the approach of evening covered the 
sea with darkness ; and it being impossible for the oflBcers aboard the ships 
which had outlived the storm, to send any intelligence to their companions 
who were ashore, they remained during the night in all the anguish of 
suspense and uncertainty. Next day, a boat despatched by Doria made 
shift to reach land, with information that, having weathered out the storm, 
to which, during fifty years' knowledge of the sea, he had never seen any 
equal in fierceness and horror, he had found it necessary to bear away with 
Ms shattered ships to Cape Metafuz. He advised the emperor, as the face of 
the sky was still lov/ering and tempestuous, to march with all speed to that 
place, where the troops could re-embark with greater ease.' — Frescotfs edit, 
of Robertson's Chas. V. 



206 



APPENDIX. 



XXI. 

BATTLE OF PAVIA. 

* The imperial generals found the French so strongly entrenched that, not- 
withstanding the powerful motives which urged them on, they hesitated long 
before they ventured to attack them ; but at last the necessities of the 
besieged, and the murmurs of their owm soldiers, obliged them to put every 
thing to hazard. Never did armies engage wdth greater ardour, or with a 
higher opinion of the importance of the battle which they were going to 
fight ; never were troops more strongly animated with emulation, national 
antipathy, mutual resentment, and all the passions which inspire obstinate 
bravery. On the one hand, a gallant young monarch, seconded by a generous 
nobility, and followed by subjects to whose natural impetuosity, indignation 
at the opposition which they had encountered, added new force, contended 
for victory and honour. On the other side, troops more completely dis- 
ciplined, and conducted by generals of greater abilities, fought from neces- 
sity, with cotirage heightened by despair. The imperialists, however, were 
unable to resist the first efforts of the French valour, and their firmest batta- 
lions began to give waj' ; but the fortune of the day was quickly changed. 
The Swiss in the service of France, unmindful of the reputation of their 
country for fidelity and martial glory, abandoned their post in a cowardly 
manner. Leyva, with his garrison, sallied out, and attacked the rear of the 
French, during the heat of the action, with such fury as threw it into con- 
fusion ; and Pescara falling on their cavalry with the imperial horse, among 
whom he had prudently intermingled a considerable body of Spanish foot 
armed with the heavy muskets then in use, broke this formidable body by an 
untisual method of attack, against which they w^ere wholly unprovided. 
The rout became miiversal, and resistance ceased in almost every part but 
where the king was in person, who fought now, not for fame or victory, but 
for safety. Though wounded in several places, and thrown fi'om his horse, 
which was killed under him, Francis defended himself on foot with an 
heroic courage. Many of his bravest officers, gathering roimd him, and 
endeavouring to save his life at the expense of their own, fell at his feet. 
Among these was Bonnivet, the author of this great calamity, who alone died 
unlamented. The king, exhausted with fatigue, and scarcely capable of 
farther resistance, was left almost alone, exposed to the fttry of some Spanish 
soldiers, strangers to his rank, and enraged at his obstinacy. At that moment 
came up Pomperant, a French gentleman, who had entered, together with 
Bourbon, into the emperor's service, and placing himself by the side of the 
monarch against whom he had rebelled, assisted in protecting him from the 
violence of the soldiers, at the same time beseeching him to surrender to 
Bourbon, who was not far distant. Imminent as the danger was which now 
surrounded Francis, he rejected with indignation the thoughts of an action 
which would have afforded such matter of triumph to his traitorous subject ; 
and calling for Lannoy, who happened likewise to be near at hand, gave up 
his sword to him, which he, kneeling to kiss the king's hand, received mth 
profound respect, and taking his own sword from his side, presented it to 
him, saying, " that it did not become so great a monarch to remain disarmed 
in the presence of one of the emperor's stibjects." 

' Ten thousand men fell on this day, one of the most fatal France had ever 
seen. Among these were manj^ noblemen of the highest distinction, who 
chose rather to pei'ish than to turn their backs with dishonour. Not a few 
were taken prisoners, of whom the most illustrious was Henry D' Albert, the 
unfortunate King of Xavarre. A small body of the rear-guard made its 
esf^'ape under the command of the Duke of Alen^on ; the feeble garrison of 
Milan , on the first news of the defeat, retired, without being pursued, by 



APPENDIX. 



207 



another road, and in two weeks after the battle not a Frenchman remained 
in Italy.' — Robertson' s Chas. V, 

XXII. 

CHARACTEB OF CHABLES V. 

' As Charles was the first prince of the age in rank and dignity, the part 
which he acted, whether we consider the greatness, the variety, or the 
success of his undertakings, was the most conspicuous. He possessed quali- 
ties so peculiar that they strongly mark his character, and not only distin- 
guish him from the princes who were his contemporaries, but account for 
that superiority over them which he so long maintained. In forming his 
schemes, he was by nature, as well as by habit, cautious and considerate. 
Born with talents which unfolded themselves slowly, and were late in attain- 
ing maturity, he was accustomed to ponder every subject that demanded his 
consideration with a careful and deliberate attention. He bent the whole 
force of his mind towards it, and dwelling upon it with a serious application, 
undiverted by pleasure, and hardly relaxed by any amusement, he revolved 
it, in silence, in his own breast. He then communicated the matter to his 
ministers, and after hearing their opinions, took his resolution with a 
decisive firmness, which seldom follows such slow and seemingly hesitating 
consultations. Of consequence, Charles's measures, instead of resembling 
the desultory and irregular sallies of Henry VIII. or Francis I., had the 
appearance of a consistent system, in which all the parts were arranged, all 
the efi:ects were foreseen, and even every accident was provided for. His 
promptitude in execution was no less remarkable than bis patience in deli- 
beration. He did not discover greater sagacity in his choice of the measures 
which it was proper to pursue, than fertility of genius in finding out the 
means of rendering his pursuit of them successful. Though he had naturally 
so little of the martial turn that, during the most ardent and bustling period 
of life, he remained in the cabinet inactive, yet, when he chose at length to 
appear at the head of his armies, his mind was so formed for vigorous exer- 
tions in every direction that he acquired such knowledge in the art of war, 
and such talents for command, as rendered him equal in reputation and 
success to the most able generals of the age. But Charles possessed, in the 
most eminent degree, the science which is of greatest importance to a 
monarch, that of knowing men, and of adapting their talents to the various 
departments which he allotted to them. From the death of Chievres to the 
end of his reign, he employed no general in the field, no minister in the 
cabinet, no ambassador to a foreign court, no governor of a province, whose 
abilities were inadequate to the trust which he reposed in them. Though 
destitute of that bewitching afl:"ability of manners v^hich gained Francis the 
hearts of all who approached his person, he v/as no stranger to the virtues 
which secure fidelity and attachment. He placed unbounded confidence in 
his generals ; he rewarded their services with munificence ; he neither 
envied their fame nor discovered any jealousy of their poAver. Almost all 
the generals who conducted his armies may be placed on a level with those 
illustrious personages who have attained the highest eminence of military 
glory ; and his advantages over his rivals are to be ascribed so manifestly to 
the superior abilities of the commanders whom_ he set in opposition to them, 
that this might seem to detract, in some degree, from his own merit, if the 
talent of discovering and steadiness in employing such instruments wu'enot 
the most undoubted proofs of a capacity for government. 

'There were, nevertheless, defects in his political character which munt 
considerably abate the admiration due to hisexti-aordinary talents. Charles's 
ambition was insatiable ; and though there seems to be no foundation for an 



208 



APPENDIX. 



opinion prevalent in Ms own age, that lie had formed the chimerical project 
of establishing an universal monarchy in Europe, it is certain that his desira 
of being distinguished as a conqueror involved him in continual w£.rs, 
which not only exhausted and oppressed his subjects, but left him little 
leisure for giving attention to the interior policy and improvement of his 
kingdoms, the great object of every prince who makes the happiness of his 
people the end of his government. Charles, at a very early period of life, 
having added the imperial crown to the kingdom of Spain, and to the here- 
ditary dominions of the Houses of Austria and Burgundy, this opened to him 
such a vast field of enterprise, and engaged him in schemes so complicated as 
well as arduous, that, feeling his power to be unequal to the execution of 
them, he had often recourse to low artifices unbecoming his superior talents, 
and sometimes ventured on such deviations from integrity as were dis- 
honourable in a great prince. His insidious and fraudulent policy appeared 
more conspicuous, and was rendered more odious, by a comparison with the 
open and undesigning character of his contemporaries, Prancis I. and Henry 
VIII. This difference, though occasioned chiefly by the diversity of their 
tempers, must be ascribed, in some degree, to such an opposition in the prin- 
ciples of their political conduct as alfords some excuse for this defect in 
Charles's behaviour, though it cannot serve as a justification of it. Prancia 
and Henry seldom acted but from the impulse of their passions, and rushed 
headlong towards the object in view. Charles's measures, being the result of 
cool reflection, were disposed into a regular system, and carried on upon a 
concentrated plan.' — Robertson's Chas. V. 

XXIII. 

THE SALE OF IHDULaElSrCES. 

* It has often been matter of surprise that the great contest of the Refor- 
mation should have turned upon so comparatively trivial a controversy as 
that which respected the indulgences — a point which was soon after abso- 
lutely forgotten. But it is not the first time that a skirmish of outposts has 
led to a general engagement. It may be added that, insignificant as that 
one point may at first sight appear, it was most natural that the contest 
should begin there. And though the tide of battle rolled away from it, 
partly because even the hardihood of Rome could scarcely dare to defend 
such a post, and partly because the reformers ceased to think of it in those 
more comprehensive corruptions which formed the object of their general 
assault (in which, indeed, this particular abuse, with many others like it, 
originated), it was not only the most natural point at which the conflict 
should begin but it was most improbable that it should not begin there. 
Habituated as men's minds were to the corruptions of the church, steeped 
in superstition from their very childhood, it could only be by some revolting 
paradox that they could possibly be roused to think, examine, and remon- 
strate. The whole enormous expansion of papal power had been but one 
long experiment on the patience and credulity of mankind. Each successive 
imposition was, it is true, worse than that which had preceded it ; but when 
once it had fastened itself upon men's minds, and they had grown familial 
with it, there was no further chance of awakening them from their apathy. 
Something further was needed, and a still more prodigious corruption must 
minister the hope of reformation. Now, indulgences, as proclaimed in the 
gross system of Tetzel. and of other spiritual quacks like him, was at once 
the ultimate and consistent limit of that huckstering in " merits," to which 
almost all the other corruptions of the church had been more plausibly sub- 
servient ; and formed just that startling exaggeration of familiar abuses 
Which was necessary to awaken men's minds to reconsideration. The notion 



APPENDIX. 



209 



of selling pardons for sins, wholesale and retail — of collecting into one great 
treasury the superfluous merits of the saints, and of doling them out by the 
pennyweight at prices fixed in the compound ratio of the necessities and 
means of the purchaser — was a notion which, however monstrous, however 
calculated to awaken the drowsy consciences of mankind, was in harmony 
with the specious nonsense of works of supererogation, and the doctrine of 
penance. It was simply the substitution of the more valuable medium of 
solid coLQ for mechanical rites of devotion, tiresome pilgrimages, and acts of 
austerity ; of golden chalices or silver candlesticks for scourges and horse- 
hair shirts ; and, provided it implied the same amount of self-denial, what 
did it matter ? The former plan was undeniably more profitable to Holy 
Church, and as to the penitent, few in our day but will admit that either 
plan was likely to be equally efficacious. The substitution of the merits of 
great saints for the transgressions of great sinners, or the remission of the 
pains of purgatory, might, for aught we can see, be^s reasonably effected by 
pounds, shillings, and pence, as by walking twenty miles with pebbles in 
one's shoes. 

' The system of indulgences, therefore — in the grosser form in which such 
men as Tetzel proclaimed it— was but the dark aphelion of the eccentric 
orbit in which the Church of Christ had wandered ; and from that point it 
naturally began to retrace its path to " the fountain itself of heavenly 
radiance." ' — Rodger's Essays, E. R. 



XXIV. 

LUTHER'S WHITINGS. 

* Even if Luther's writings were less fraught with the traces of a vigorous 
intellect than they are, there are two achievements of his, the like of which 
were never performed except where there was great genius. First, such was 
his mastery over his native language that, under his plastic hand and all- 
subduing energy, it ceased to be a rugged and barbarous dialect almost unfit 
for the purposes of literature ; for which, indeed, he may be said to have 
created it. Secondly, he achieved, almost single-handed, the translation of 
the whole Scriptures, and (whatever the faults which necessarily arose from 
the defective scholarship of the age) with such idiomatic strength and racy 
energy, that his version has ever been the object of universal veneration, and 

is unapproachable by any which has since appeared When we 

reflect that these works were not the productions of retired leisure but 
composed amidst all the oppressive duties and incessant interruptions of a 
life like his, we pause aghast at the energy of character which they display ; 
and wonder that that busy brain and ever-active hand could sustain their 
office so long. Of the distracting variety and complication of his engage- 
ments, he gives us, in more than one of his letters, an amusing account. 
Their very contents, indeed, bear witness to them. The centre and main- 
spring of the v.'hole great movement — the principal counsellor in great 
emergencies— the referee in disputes and differences amongst his own party 
— solicited for advice alike by princes and scholars, and pastors, on all sorts 
of matters, public and private— having the " care of all the churches," 
and beset at the same time by a host of inveterate and formidable adversaries 
— ^the wonder is, not that he discharged many of Ms duties imperfectly, but 
that he could find time to discharge them at all. 

' But whatever the merits of Luther's writings, it has been already ad- 
mitted that it is not in them that we recognise the chief evidences of the 
power and compass of his intellect. His pretensions to be considere{i one of 
the great minds of his species, are more truly, as well as more wisely, rested 

P 



210 



APPENDIX. 



on Ms actions ; —on the skill and conduct which he displayed throngh all thei 
long conflict with his gigantic adversary, and the inefEaceable traces which 
he left of himself on the mind of his age, and on that of all succeeding ages.' 
— Rodger's Essays, E. R. 



XXY. 

PEACE OP WESTPHALIA. 

* The Peace of Westphalia was the first, and with the exception, perhaps, oi 
the Treaties of Vienna in 1815, the most important of those attempts to re- 
construct by diplomacy the European state-system which have played so 
large a part in modern history. It is important, however, not as marking 
the introduction of new principles, but as the winding up of the struggle 
which had convulsed Germany since the revolt of Luther ; sealing its results, 
and closing definitively the period of the Reformation. Although the causes 
of disunion which the religious movement called into being had now been at 
work for more than a hundred years, their effects w^ere not fully seen till it 
became necessary to establish a system which should represent the altered 
relations of the German states. It may thus be said of this famous peace, aa 
of the other so-called " fundamental law of the empire," the Golden Bull, 
that it did no more than legalise a condition of things already in existence, 
but which by being legalised acquired new importance. To all parties alike 
the result of the Thirty Years' War was thoroughly unsatisfactory : to the 
Protestants, who had lost Bohemia, and must still hold an inferior place in 
the electoral college and in the diet ; to the Catholics, who were forced to 
permit the exercise of heretical w^orship, and leave the church lands in the 
grasp of sacrilegious spoilers ; to the princes, who could not throw off the 
burden of imperial supremacy ; to the emperor, who could turn that supre- 
macy to no practical account. No other conclusion was possible to a contest 
in w^hich everyone had been vanquished and no one victorious : which had 
ceased because, w^hile the reasons for war continued, the means of war had 
failed. Nevertheless, the substantial advantage remained with the German 
princes, for they gained the formal recognition of that territorial indepen- 
dence whose origin may be placed as far back as the days of Frederic TI., 
and the maturity of which had been hastened by the events of the last pre-' 
ceding century. It was, indeed, not only recognised but justified as rightful 
and necessary ; for while the political situation, to use a current phrase, had 
changed within the last two hundred years, the eyes with which men regarded 
it had changed still more. Never by their fiercest enemies in earlier times, 
not once by the popes, or the Lombard republicans in the heat of their strife 
with the Franconian and Suabian Cfesars, had the emperors been reproached 
as mere German kings, or their claim to be the la\\^ul heirs of Rome denied. 
The Protestant jurists of the sixteenth century were the first persons who 
ventured to scoff at the pretended lordship of the world, and declare their 
empire to be nothing more than a German monarchy, in dealing with which 
no superstitious reverence need prevent its subjects from making the best 
terms they could for themselves, and controlling a sovereign whose religious 

predilections made him the friend of their enemies By stating 

a full recognition of the sovereignty of all the princes, Catholic and Pro- 
testant alike, in their respective territories, France and Sweden bound the 
emperor from all direct interference with the administration either in par- 
ticular districts or throughout the empire. All affairs of public importance, 
including the rights of making war or peace, of levying contributions, 
raising troops, bailding fortresses, passing or interpreting laws, were hence- 
forth to be left entirely in the hands of the diet. The aulic council, which 



APPENDIX. 



211 



li^A been sometimes the engine of imperial oppression, and always of imperial 
intrigue, was so restricted as to be harmless for the future. The ' ' reservata" 
of the emperor were confined to the rights of granting titles and confirming 
tolls. In matters of religion an exact though not perfectly reciprocal 
equality was established between the two chief ecclesiastical bodies, and the 
right of " Itio in partes," that is to say, of deciding questions in which reli- 
gion was involved by amicable negotiations between the Protestant and 
Catholic States, instead of by a majority of votes in the diet, was definitely 
admitted. Both Lutherans and Calvinists (now the Evangelical Church of 
Germany) were declared free from all jurisdiction of the pope or any Catholic 
prelate. Thus the last link which bound Germany to Rome was snapped ; 
the last of the principles by virtue of which the empire had existed was 
abandoned ; for the empire now contained and recognised as its members 
persons who formed a visible body at open war with th- Holy Roman Church, 
and its constitution admitted schismatics to a full share in all those civil 
rights, which, according to the doctrines of the early middle age, could be 
enjoyed by no one who was out of the communion of the Catholic Church. 
The Peace of Westphalia was therefore an abrogation of the sovereignty of 
Rome, and of the theory of Church and State with which the name of Rome 
was associated. And in this light was it regarded by Pope Innocent X. , who 
commanded his prelate to protest against it, and subsequently declared it 
void by the bull " Zelo domus Dei." 

' The transference of power within the empire, from its head to its mem- 
bers, was a small matter compared with the losses which the empire sufilered 
as a whole. The real gainers by the treaties of Westphalia were those who 
had borne the brunt of the battle against Ferdinand II. and his son. To 
France were ceded Brisac and the Austrian part of Alsace, and the lands of 
the three bishoprics in Lorraine, Metz, Toul, and Verdun, w^hich her armies 
had seized in a.d. 1552 ; to Sweden, Northern Pomerania, Bremen, and 
Verden. And as it was by their aid that the liberties of the Protestants had 
been won, these states obtained at the same time what was more valuable 
than territorial accessions, — the right of interfering at imperial elections, 
and generally whenever the pro^asions of the treaties of Osnabriick and 
Miinster, which they had guaranteed, might be supposed to be endangered. 
The bounds of the empire were further narrowed by the final separation of 
two countries, once integral parts of Germany, and up to this time legally 
members of her body. Holland and Switzerland were in a.d. 1648 declared 
independent. ' — Br. 



XXVI. 

HORROKS OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR. 

' All armies draw after them a train of camp followers. They are a plague 
which in the very nature of things is inevitable. But never perhaps did this 
evil rise to so enormous a height as now. Towards the close of this war an 
imperial army of 40,000 men were found to be attended by the ugly accom- 
paniment of 140,000 of these. The conflict had, in fact, by this time lasted 
so^ long that the soldiery had become as a distinct nation camping in the 
midst of another ; and the march of an army like that of some wild nomade 
horde, moving with wives and children through the land. And not with 
these only. There were others, too, in its train, as may easily be supposed : 
troops of unchaste women (readers of Walter Scott will remember Dugald 
Dalgetty's inopportUTie attempt to explain to the Lady of Ardenvohr the 
arrangements for preserving some sort of order among these), gangs of 
gipsies, hordes of Jewish sutlers, watching to make their gain by purchasing 

P 2 



212 



APPENDIX. 



liis booty from the soldier, ^vith all of wickedest and worst which the war 
had bred, or drawn by a too sure attraction to itself. Marauders, too, there 
were, "soldiers of Count Merode," or " Merode's brothers," as the plunder- 
ing skulkers from the ranks were now called. The foot soldier who had 
thrown away his musket, the cavalry soldier who had sold or lost his horse, 
with many more who loved the license but shrank from the toil and danger 
of war— these, not so much seeking to gather up what the armies had left, 
for that would have been little, but to be the first where spoil was to be got- 
ten or havoc made, were the evil harbingers of a worse evil behind. It is a 
thought to make one shudder, the passage of one of these armies with its 
foul retinue tlirough some fair, and smiling, and well-ordered region — what 
it found, and what it must have left it, and what its doings there had been. 
Bear in mind that there was seldom in these armies any attempt whatever 
at a regular commissariat ; rations were never issued except to the actual 
soldiers, and most irregularly to them ; and then it will be possible remotely 
to conceive what a weltering mass of misery endured and misery inflicted 

must have ever floated round such a camp as it moved No wonder 

that in many a village or unwalled town, on the church tower, or on some 
other spot commanding a wide view of the country round, a watch would be 
kept night and day, ready to give earliest notice of the appearance of any 
hostile bands ; and when I say hostile bands, you must remember that, for 
the most part, all bands were -hostile, the soldiery recognising no distinction 
between friend or foe, but with impartial cruelty robbing and torturing all 
alike, without any account taken of the confession to which they belonged. 
The signal of their approach given, the entire population would take flight ; 
whatever they could carry away, carrying this with them ; and then in the 
depth of the forests, in inaccessible morasses, in deserted quarries, in any 
spot where they could hope for a refuge and concealment, would wait, often 
for weeks, or even for months together, till the tyranny was overpast. We 
may faintly picture to ourselves all which under these conditions must have 
been suffered, from the inclemency of a German winter, from the want of 
all things ; the old men, the delicate women, the tender babes who must 
have perished in these wild hiding-places, the memory of which is still tra- 
ditionally handed down, and some of them in various parts of Germany 
shown even to the present day. When the danger was for the moment over, 
and they ventured to return, it would be oftenest to black and smoking 
ruins ; always to houses stript of everything which could be carried away ; 
and what could not be removed trodden under foot and so far as possible 
destroyed ; for it was a rule to leave nothing to an after-comer, who might 
be an enemy. In vain had the most artful places of concealment been 
devised for the hiding of some precious objects, if any such still remained to 
hide ; though when we read, as in Lord Arundel's Travels, of villages which 
had been plundered eight-and-twenty times, and some twice in one day, 
there must soon have been very little to conceal. The skill of the findera 
was more than a match for that of the hiders. Water was poured every- 
where on the ground ; wherever it sunk rapidly into the earth, there some- 
thing had recently been buried. Every wall was tapped with the butt-end 
of the musket that any hollow sound might betray the cunningly-contrived 
recess, with the little hoard which had there been lodged. The church 
vaults had been burst open, the coffins broken in pieces, for in such loath- 
some receptacles, among the very bones of the dead, it was sometimes sought 
to conceal a little remnant of food. All had been discovered, and all swept 
away. This war has left a very characteristic deposit in our language in. the 
word "plunder," which first appeared in English about the year 1642-1643, 
having been brought hither from Germany by some of the many Scotch and 
English who had served therein ; for so Fuller assures us. " Contemporary," 
he says, " with malignant was the word plunder, which some make of Latin 



APPENDIX. 



213 



original, from planum dare, to level, plane all to nothing. Others make it 
of Dutch (that is, of German) extraction, as if it were to plume or pluck the 
feathers of a bird to the bare skin. Sure I am we first heard thereof in the 
Swedish wars, and if the name and thing be sent back from whence it came 
few English ej^es would weep thereat." Take, let me say by the way, Puller's 
information, but leave his etymology. Heylin confirms this account, giving 
the word exactly the same date, though without tracing it to G-ermany. 
*' Plunder," he writes, '* both name and thing, was unknown in England till 
the beginning of the war." "Whether the thing had been so unknown in 
other previous wars which in "our rough island story" are recorded, I 
should take leave very much to doubt ; but doubtless the name was new. 
When these things were being done, you may easily imagine the savage class 
hatred which ere long grew up between the soldiers and the boors. It was 
one of the most dreadful features of the war, and added unspeakably to its 
horrors. For the boor, the soldier was a natural enemy ; and for the soldier, 
the boor. It needed but a few mutual provocations for each to seek to in- 
flict upon the other the deadliest injuries in his power. And though in this 
rivalry of hate it would inevitably happen that the peasantry suffered far 
the most, yet not so but that they sometimes tasted the sweetness of revenge. 
Lurking in the woods, they hung on the skirts of armies, above all, of 
armies defeated and retreating, watching for stragglers, for marauders, for 
sick and wounded who dropped behind, putting such as fell into their hands 
to death with every device of cruelty and insult which rude men, maddened 
by wrong, could imagine, again drawing on themselves or on others of their 
own class retaliations of cruelty which sought to transcend theirs. An 
English officer, who fought at Lutzen, no doabt exaggerates when he states 
that twice as many of Wallenstein's army perished in the retreat to Bohemia 
by the hands of the boors as in the battle itself ; but that such a report could 
be current attests how active their enmity was, and how deadly, when op- 
portunity arrived, it might prove. What manner of retort the soldiers of 
Wallenstein made upon this occasion on the boors may be read in the Swedish 
Intelligencer. A wonderful account of one of these hideous circles of outrage 
and wrong (it would not bear to be quoted) may be found in Simplicissimns, 
the G-erman Gil Bias, a book which yields a picture of the strange, wild, 
titterly dislocated, and demoralised life of the time, such as a hundred vo- 
lumes of history would fail to afford.' — Archbishop Trench's Gustavus Adolphu4. 



XXVII. 

JOSEPH II. 

• Of Joseph's remaining attacks on ecclesiastical power, his sweeping sup- 
pression of convents and religious bodies, it is not necessary to speak in 
connection with this particular subject. To limit the number of religious 
houses, to suppress convents and secularise their property, are steps to which 
all Christian governments have been driven at one period or another by 
supposed state expediency ; and the common sense of justice, no less than 
policy, recognises the principle that to turn to public uses the goods of a 
^rporation, provided the interests of individuals are preserved, is a measure 
requiring far less cogent reason to justify it than the appropriation of those 
of an individual citizen. Ajid at all events, an act of the state depriving 
the abstraction called the church of a portion of its property — nay, depriving 
individual clergymen of their property — may be a robbery, but cannot be 
rightly called an intrusion on the spiritual province. Joseph's measures 
were radical enough, but the}^ restored to circulation a vast amount of land 
which had been shut up in mortmain, and restored to indubtry and civil life 



214 



APPENDIX. 



many thousands of very idle monks ; and it is justice to Mm to say that the. 
*' Religionskasse," or religious fund, produced by these measures, which he 
devoted to certain specified objects of public utility, as well as paying the 
pensions of the ex -religious, seems by the best accounts to have been con- 
scientiously administered. 

' In three or four years, serfdom, properly so called, was absolutely extin- 
guished in the German provinces. " Frohndienste," or compulsory services, 
were rendered redeemable on very easy terms. For the first time— at least 
since the reign of Sobieslas, the peasant prince, " der Bauern-Kbnig," in 
1175 — the enjoyment of the fruits of the earth seemed to be guaranteed to 
him who produced them. Happily for itself, as well as for mankind, the 
government of Leopold, forced as it was to undo much of Joseph's work, 
was able by temporising and management to retain this portion. In point 
of fact, it would have been unsafe to make even the attempt to undo it ; for 
the peasantry were aware of the advantage they had won. It was said that 
nine-tenths of the compulsory dues in Bohemia had been redeemed by the 
end of Joseph's reign. 

' One more of Joseph's achievements was permanent and complete, having 
withstood all serious encroachment even during the several flood-tides of re- 
action which have followed. This was his Toleration Edict, the Magna 
Charta of Austrian religious liberty. 

' And although the church afterwards recovered in the main that supre- 
macy of which Joseph had deprived it, the legal, and, generally speaking, 
the practical, freedom of those who dissent from it has ever since remained 
secure.' — Merivale, Hist. Studies. 



XXVIII. 

CATHEmNE OF PwUSSIA. 

' As it was, no more remained of a name and influence once so gigantic 
than of the unsubstantial shows with which his dexterity had amused his 
sovereign in the wilderness. And scarcely more durable, some writers have 
added, were most of the monuments of her past activity which this illustrious 
woman herself left behind her. Death surprised her, after thirty-four years 
of constant successes, still planning further schemes of aggression and 
aggrandisement— designing to trample out both the Mussulman and the 
Jacobin ; with Constantinople, Paris, and Teheran, and Stockholm, full in 
view, as the objects, no longer to appearance remote, of her daring ambition. 
But .the loftier purposes of her youth, her essays at material and moral civi- 
lisation, were not indeed abandoned ; she never lost sight of them, but 
adjourned, as it proved, indefinitely. " Avant la mort de Catherine," says 
Masson, " la plupart des monuments de son regno ressemblaient d6ja a des 
debris ; legislation, colonies, Education, institut, fabriques, batiments, hopi- 
taux, canaux, villes, forteresses, tout avait ete commence et abandonn6 
avant d'etre acheve." Nor could it be said, great and popular as her name 
had been among the Russians, that she had effected any substantial change 
in the national character; but she had effectually aroused the national 
spirit. She had inspired them with that thorough martial confidence in the 
valour of the armies and the star of their destiny which has since carried 
them, either triumphant or at least unbroken, through so many a struggle. 
Except in this particular, the generation which saw her buried, boyars and 
serfs alike, was probably much the same, in habits, tendencies, and educa- 
tion, with that which had beheld her mount the throne. Her hand was not 
equal to the work of stripping any large portion of the aged rind from the 
rich fruit within. Her influence on her era was very great ; but it was 



APPENDIX. 



215 



indirect, and more felt perhaps by the world at large than by Russia in par- 
ticular. Her achievements were those of a clear decisive intellect and 
generous spirit, unseduced by the common shows of things, and unterrified 
by vulgar dangers ; which could establish the theory of monarchy on the 
naked utilitarian basis of the greatest good of the greatest number ; which 
could carry to the tlu'one, and practise on tha throne, but with prudence, 
the maxims of a few mere thinkers, despicable in the eyes of ordinary poli- 
ticians, and could astonish the latter by proving that neither state nor 
church fell down in consequence, but seemed to attain additional security. 
She dared follow to its results that fearless optimism which habitually 
assumed the best respecting men and their motives, and deemed harsh punish- 
ment and violent coercion simply evils in themselves, unadapted to the 
real exigencies of human nature, imperfect instruments, of which the use 
required ai^ology.'— Me?'ivale, Hist. Studies, 



XXIX. 

THE BATTLE OF LIGNY. 

* The better to conceal his real designs, Napoleon made great demonstra- 
tions against St. Armand on his4eft ; but meanwhile he collected his principal 
force, concealed from the enemy, opposite the Prussian centre at Ligny, 
which was to be the real point of attack. St. Armand was carried, after a 
vigorous resistance, by the French corps under Vandamme ; and no sooner 
was the enemy's attention fixed on that quarter, whither reinforcements 
were directed by Bliicher, than Napoleon's centre, 30,000 strong, commanded 
by Gerard, issued from its concealment, crossed the streamlet of Ligny, and, 
pushing up the opposite bank, commenced a furious assault on the village of 
the same name. But if the attack was vehement, the resistance was not less 
obstinate ; three times Ligny was taken by the impetuous assault of the 
French grenadiers, and three times the Prussians, with invincible resolution, 
returned to the charge, and with desperate valour regained the post at the 
point of the bayonet. Each army had behind its own side of the village 
immense masses of men, with which the combat was constantly fed ; and at 
length the struggle became so desperate that neither party could completely, 
by bringing up fresh columns, expel the enemy, but they fought hand to 
hand in the streets and houses with unconquerable resolution ; while the fire 
of 200 pieces of cannon, directed on the two sides against the village, spread 
death equally among friend and foe. At seven o'clock, after three hours' 
furious combat, nothing was yet decided ; and Blucher, by directing in per- 
son a fresh corps against St. Armand, had retaken part of that village and an 
important height adjoining, commanding a large part of the field of battle. 

' By degrees, however, all BlUcher's reserves were engaged, and his position 
became very critical ; for the attack of the French centre continued with 
unparalleled vigour, and neither Billow's corps had come up on the one flank 
nor the much wished for British succours on the other. Both parties, almost 
equally exhausted, dispatched the most urgent orders to their other corps or 
allies to join them : that of Napoleon at this juncture was so presk.ing that 
he declared to Ney that the fate of France depended on his instantly obeying 
it, and ordered D'Erlon's corps, 23,000 strong, forming that marshal's reserve, 
forthwith to defile towards Ligny. Ney, however, so far from being in a 
condition to make the prescribed movement, was himself with difficulty con- 
tending against defeat at Quatre-Bras ; but a happy acci lent almost supplied 
his loss. At seven o'clock, D'Erlon's corps, which had been stationed by that 
.marshal in reserve two leagues from Quatre-Bras, withdrawn from tliere by 
the positive orders of the emperor, made its appearance on the extreme 



216 



APPENDIX. 



Prussian right, beyond St. Armand. Thev were at first taken for Prussians^ 
and excited no small alarm in the French army ; but no sooner was the mistake 
discovered than fear gave place to confidence, and Napoleon, now entirely 
relieved, brought forward his guards and reserves for a decisive attack on the 
centre. Milhaud's terrible cuirassiers advanced at the gallop, shaking their 
sabres in the air ; the artillery of the guard under Drouot moved up, pouring 
forth with extraordinary rapidity its dreadful fire ; and, in the rear of all, 
the dense columns of the Old Gruard were seen moving forward with a swift 
pace and unbroken array. This attack, supported by the appearance of 
D'Erlon's column in the distance, and a charge of twenty squadrons of 
cuirassiers on the Prussian right flank, proved decisive : the infantry posted 
behind Ligny began to retire, the blood-stained street of the village fell into 
the enemy's hands ; and in the confusion of a retreat commenced just as 
aarkness began to overspread the field, the troops naturally fell into some 
degree of disorder. The cannon, in retiring through the narrow lanes behind 
Ligny, got entangled, and twenty-one pieces fell into the enemy's hands. 
The veteran Bliicher himself, charging at the head of a body of cavalry, to 
retard the enemy's pursuit, had his horse shot under him. '* Now," said he 
to his aide-de-camp Nostitz, " I am lost ; " but that faithful officer stood by 
his side, and succeeded in the end in saving him. The Prussian horse, over- 
powered by the French cuirassiers, were driven back, and the victorious 
French rode straight over the Prussian marshal as he lay entangled below 
his dying steed. A second charge of Prussian horse repulsed the French 
cuirassiers ; but they, too, in the dark, passed the marshal without seeing 
him, and it was not till they were returning that he was recognised, and 
with some difficulty extricated from the dead horse, and mounted on a stray 
dragoon troop horse. The loss of the French in the battle was 6,800 men ; 
the Prussians were weakened by 15,000, four standards, and twenty-one pieces 
of cannon, but 10,000 more dispersed after the action, and were lost to the 
allied cause.' — AlisoUt Hist, of the Fr, Rev, 



217 



ADDITIONAL APPENDIX. 



GUEIjPHS and GHIBELIiINES. 

In the wars of Frederic Barbarossa against Milan and its allies, we have 
Been the cities of Lombardy divided, and a considerable number of them 
firmly attached to the imperial interest. It does not appear, I believe, 
from history, though it is by no means improbable, that the citizens were 
at so early a time divided among themselves, as to their hne of public 
policy, as that the adherence of a particular city to the Emperor, or to the 
Lombard League, Avas only, as proved afterwards the case, that one faction 
or another acquired an ascendency in its councils. But jealousies long 
existing between the different classes, and only suspended by the national 
struggle which terminated at Constance, gave rise to new modifications of 
interests, and new relations towards the Empire. About the year 1200, or 
perhaps a little later, the two leading parties which divided the cities of 
Lombardy, and whose mutual animosity, having no general subject of con- 
tention, required the association of a name to direct as well as invigorate 
its prejudices, became distinguished by the celebrated appellations of 
Guelphs and G-hibellines ; the former adhering to the papal side, the latter 
to that of the Emperor. These names were derived from Germany, and 
had been the rallying word of faction for more than half a century in that 
country before they were transported to a still more favourable soil. The 
G-uelphs took their name from a very illustrious family, several of whom had 
successively been dukes of Bavaria in the tenth and eleventh centuries. 
The heiress of the last of these intermarried with a younger son of the 
house of Este, a noble family settled near Padua, and possessed of great 
estates on each bank of the Lower Po. They gave birth to a second line of 
Guelphs, from whom the royal house of Brunswick is descended. The 
name of Ghibelline is derived from a village in Franconia, whence Conrad 
the Salic came, the progenitor, through females, of the Suabian Emperors. 
At the election of Lothaire in 1125, the Suabian family were disappointed; 
of what they considered almost an hereditary possession ; and at this time 
an hostility appears to have commenced between them and the house of 
Guelph, who were nearly related to Lothaire. Henry the Proud, and hia 
son Henry the Lion, representatives of the latter family, were frequently 
persecuted by the Suabian emperors ; but their fortunes belong to the 
history of Germany. — Eallam, Middle Ages. 



218 



ADDITIONAL APPENDIX, 



COROITATIOIT OF CHARLEMAGlSrE AT ROME. 

The Frank had been always faithfnl to Eome ; his baptism was the en- 
listment of a new barbarian auxiliary. His services against the Arian and 
the Lombard, the Saracen and the Avar, had earned him the title of cham- 
pion of the Faith and Defender of the Holy See. He was now unquestioned 
lord of Western Europe, whose subject nations, Keltic and Teutonic, were 
eager to be called by his name, and to imitate his customs. In Charles, 
the hero who united under one sceptre so many races, who ruled all as the 
vicegerent of G-od, the pontiff might well see, as later ages saw, the new 
golden head of a second image, erected on the ruins of that whose mingled 
iron and clay were crumbling to nothingness behind the impregnable bul- 
warks of Constantinople. 

At length the Frankish host entered Eome. The Pope's cause was heard ; 
his innocence, already vindicated by a miracle, was pronounced by the Pa- 
trician in full synod ; his accusers condemned in his stead. Charles 
remained in the city for some weeks ; and on Christmas-day, a.d. 800, he 
heard mass in the basilica of St. Peter. On the spot where now the 
gigantic dome of Bramante and Michael Angelo towers over the buildings 
of the modern city, the spot which tradition had hallowed as that of the 
Apostle's martyrdom, Constantine the G-reat had erected the oldest and 
stateliest temple of Christian Eome. Nothing could be less like than was 
this basilica to those northern cathedrals, shadowy, fantastic, irregular, 
crowded with pillars, fringed all round by clustering shrines and chapels, 
which are to most of us the types of mediaeval architecture. In its plan 
and decorations, in the spacious sunny hall, the roof plain as that of a 
Greek temple, the long rows of Corinthian columns, the vivid mosaics on 
its walls, in its brightness, its sternness, its simplicity, it had preserved 
every feature of Eoman art, and had remained a perfect expression of the 
Eoman character. Out of the transept a flight of steps led up to the high 
altar, underneath and just beyond the great arch, the Arch of Triumph, as 
it was called ; behind, in the semicircular apse, sat the clergy, rising tier 
above tier around its walls ; in the midst, high above the rest, and looking 
down past the altar over the multitude, was placed the bishop's throne it- 
self, the curule chair of some forgotten magistrate. From that chair the 
Pope now rose, as the reading of the Gospel ended, advanced to where 
Charles — who had exchanged his simple Frankish dress for the sandals and 
the chlamys of a Eoman patrician — knelt in prayer by the high altar, and 
as in the sight of all he placed upon the brow of the barbarian chieftain, then 
bent in obeisance before him, the diadem of the Csesars, the church rang to 
the shout of the multitude, again free, again the lords and centre of the 
world, * Karolo Augusto a Deo coronato magno et pacifico imperatori vita et 
victoria.' In that shout, echoed by the Franks without, was pronounced 
the union, so long in preparation, so mighty in its consequences, of the 
Eoman and the Teuton, of the memories and the civilisation of the 
South with the fresh energy of the North, and from that moment modem 
history begins.— 5ryce, H. E. E, ch. iv. p. 52, 3rd edit. 



ADDITIONAL APPENDIX. 



219 



LUTHBB. 

* Time went on ; knowledge increased ; doubt stole in, and with doubt the 
passionate determination to preserve beliefs at all hazards which had grown 
too dear to superstition to be parted with. In the twelfth century the 
mystery called transubstantiation had come to be regarded with widespread 
misgiving. To encounter scepticism, there then arose for the first time 
what have been called pious frauds. It was not perceived that men who 
lend themselves consciously to lies, with however excellent an intention, 
will become eventually deliberate rogues. The clergy doubtless believed 
that in the consecration of the elements an invisible change was really and 
truly effected. But to produce an effect on the secular mind the invisible 
had to be made visible. A general practice sprang up to pretend that in 
the breaking of the wafer real blood had gushed out ; that real pieces of 
flesh were found between the fingers. The precious things thus produced 
were carefully preserved, and, with the Pope's blessing, were deposited in 
shrines for the strengthening of faith and the confutation of the pre- 
sumptuous unbeliever. 

' When a start has once been made on the road of deception, the after 
progress is a rapid one. The desired effect was not produced. Incredulity 
increased. Imposture ran a race with unbelief in the vain hope of silencing 
inquiry, and with imposture all genuine love for spiritual or moral truth 
disappeared. 

* You all know to what condition the Catholie Church had sunk at the 
beginning of the sixteenth century. An insolent hierarchy, wi.th an army 
of priests behind them, dominated every country in Europe. The Church 
was Hke a hard nutshell round a shrivelled kernel. The priests in parting 
with their sincerity had lost the control over their appetites which only 
fdncerity can give. Profligate in their own lives, they extended to the laity 
the same easy latitude which they asserted for their own conduct. Eeligious 
duty no longer consisted in leading a virtuous life, but in purchasing immu- 
nity for self-indulgence by one of the thousand remedies which Church 
ofiBcials were ever ready to dispense at an adequate price. 

* The pleasant arrangement came to an end — a sudden and terrible one: 
Christianity had not been upon the earth for nothing. The spiritual 
organisation of the Church was corrupt to the core ; but in the general 
awakening of Europe it was impossible to conceal the contrast between the 
doctrines taught in the Cathohc pulpits and the creed of which they were 
the counterfeit. Again and again the gathering indignation sputtered out, 
to be savagely repressed. At last it pleased Pope Leo, who wanted money 
to flnish St. Peter's, to send about spiritual hawkers vnth wares which were 
called indulgences — notes to be presented at the gates of purgatory as pass- 
ports to the easiest places there— and then Luther spoke and the whirlwind 
burst, 

' I can but glance at the Reformation in Germany. Luther himself waa 
one of the grandest men that ever lived on earth. Never was anyone more 
loyal to the light that was in him, braver, truer, or wider-minded in the 
noblest sense of the word. The share of the work which fell to him Luther 
accomplished most perfectly. But he was exceptionally fortunate in one 
way, that in Saxony he had his sovereign on his side, and the enemy, 
however furious, could not reach him with the fleshly weapons, and could 
but grind his teeth and curse. Other nations who had caught Luther's 
spirit, had to win their Mberty on harder terms, and the Catholic church- 
men were able to add to their other crimes the cruelty of fiends.' — Froude, 
Short Studies on Great Subjects. 



■4 



I 



221 



CHEONOLOGICAL TAELE 

OF THE 

PKINCIPAL EVENTS IK GEEMAN HISTOEY. 



First Great Migration of the German Nations (the Cimbri and 

Teutones) Circ. B.C. 120 

Battles of AquEe Saxtise and Yercellae ; defeat and destruction of the 

Cimbri and Teutones by Marius and Catulus . . B.C. 102 and 101 

Destruction of Varus and his three Legions by Arminius . . A.D. 9 

Expedition of Drusus : he receives the surname of Germanicus from 

his conquest of the Cherusci and other tribes . . . A.D. 14-16 

Six Great Migrations of the Germanic Nations, Goths, Vandals, 

&c., &c., towards the South .... Prom A.D. 120-'; 50 

The Empire of Charlemagne Circ. 8C>0 

Partition of the Carlovingian Empire at the Treaty of Verdun ; 
commencement of the History of Germany, France, and Italy, 
as separate States 843 

Election of Conrad, Duke of Franconia, as King of the Germans . 911 

Otho the Great ; founder of * l^tllg 3^0man (BlVl^iXS 

crowned Emperor, at Rome, by Pope John XII. . . . 962 

Long quarrels between the Emperor Henry IV. and the Pope Gre- 
gory VII. (Hildebrand) From cii'c. 1070-1100 

Concordat between the Emperor Henry V. and the Holy See, at the 

Diet of Worms 1122 

Long quarrels of the Factions of the Guelfs and Ghibellines in 

Germany and Italy. They last about 300 years . From about 1138-1450 

Conrad III., first Emperor of the House of Hohenstaufen . . 1138 

Frederic I. Barbarossa (Emperor; 1152) heads the Third Crusade . 1189 

In his reign, the Peace of Constance, establishing the Independence 
of the Italian Republics. The Holy Roman Umpire, 
about this period, at its greatest height. . 1183 

Frederic II. ; Emperor, 1215, heads the Sixth Crusade, and obtains 

the surrender of Jerusalem 1228 

lasts about 22 years. Anarchy 
and Misery of the Empire, scourged by the Black Death, and the 
Robber Ejiights From circ, 1250-1273 

Election of Rudolph of Hapsburg as Emperor ; first of the House 

of Hapsburg ]272 

Completion of the conquest of Pmssia by the Teutonic Knights . Circ. 1280 



222 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



llavages of the Black Plague, throughout the Empire, and in Europe 

generally . Circ. 1350 

TSie Golden Bull ; by which the Emperor, Charles IV., defi- 
nitely fixed who were to be the Seven Electoral Princes . . 1356 

Great Power of the Hanseatic League Circ. 1350 

[The Ehenish League at an earlier Period, about 1270.] 

The Great Schism in the Papacy : lasts about 50 years . From 1378-1429' 

Wars of the Dukes of Austria against the Swiss Confederation, and 
Battles of Sempach, 1386, and of Naefels, 1388 ; won by the 
Swiss From circ. 1350-1390 

Battle of Nicopolis and defeat of the army of Sigismund by Snltui 

Bajazet 1396 

Great Eeligious movement in Germany ; commenced by the preach- 
ing of John Huss Circ. 1409 

Council of Constance, and Execution of John Huss (and of Jerome 

of Prague, the next year) 1415 

Commencement of the Hussite Wars, circa 1419 : they last nearly 
16 years ; concluded by the Articles of Prague and the Compact 
of Iglau From 1419-1435 

Invention of Printing Circ. 1436 

Long and bloody Turkish Wars ; repeated invasions and devastations 
of Hungary, Croatia, Carinthia, and other provinces of the Em- 
pire ; last, with temporary intermissions and truces, nearly • 
300 years ; from the time of the Emperor Wenzel, down to the 
time of Charles YI. and the taking of Belgrade by Prince 
Eugene From circ. 1400-1700 

Exploits of John Hunniades and Matthias Corvinus in the Turkish 

Wars Circ. 1450-1460 

^arriagre of IMEaximilian (afterwards the Emperor Maxi- 
milian 1.) with Mary of Burgundy . . . , 1477 

Wars of Charles the Bold of Burgundy against the Swiss Confede- 
ration ; battles of Granson, Morat, and Nancy, 1477, and virtual 
separation of Switzerland from the Empire .... 1499 

[Switzerland was finally and definitely separated from the Empire 
at the Peace of Westphalia, 1648.] 

Commencement of tlie Reformation by the preach- 
ing of Martin Luther (he defends his opinions at the Diet of 
Augsburg, 1519) 1517 

ImOU^ and eventful Z^eig'n of diaries V. ; constant 
wars with France and the Turks ; and Progress of the Refor- 
mation From 1519-1556 

[The Diet of Worms, 1521 ; the Diet of Spires, and name of Pro- 
testant, 1529 ; and Diet and Confession of Augsburg ; 1530.] 

Increasing Discord between the two Great Parties of the Catholics 
and Protestants (Formation of the Protestant, or Evangelical, 
Union, and of the Catholic League ; 1608 and 1610) . . Circ. 1560 

Tlie Thirty Years' War 1618-1648 

Tlie Peace of Westphalia 1648 

Constant Decline of the Empire From circ. 1440-1648 

The Siege of Vienna raised by John Sobieski, and Charles, Duke of 

Lorraine 1683 

Union of the Tyrol with Austria ; 1665 ; the Diet of Pressburg, and 
forcible conversion of Hungary, hitherto an Electoral Kingdom, 
into an hereditary Monarchy, settled on the House of Austria 1687 

War with France, and devastation of the Palatinate by Turenne . 1672-1697 

Creation of the Electorate of Hanover 1692 



CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 



223 



Disgraceful Peace of Ryswick and final severance of Alsace and 

Lorraine from the Empire . . . . . . . . 1697 

The Duchy of Prussia converted into a Kingdom ; (the Margrave 
of Brandenburg, an Elector, being the first king, under the title 

of Frederic I. of Prussia) 1701 

War of the Spanish Succession From 1701-1714 

Persecutions of the Protestants by the Emperor Charles YI. and^ 

the Salzlrurg Emigration Giro. 1715 

HLf^t ^Bragmatic ^auction i7i8 

Charles VII. of Bavaria, ' the bold Bavarian,' elected Emperor . 1743 
The First and Second Silesian Wars from 1740-1745 ; and the Third 
Silesian, or Seven Years' War (concluded by the Peace 

of Paris and Hubertsburg) From 1756-1763 

[Cxreat Power of Prussia, since 1763, and division, henceforth, of 
tlie Holy Roman Empire, practically, into tlie 
Two Great l^onarchies of Austria and 
Prussia.] 

Firsc Partition of Poland, by Eussia, Prussia, and Austria (the 

Second Partition, 1793, and the Third, 1795) .... 1772 

Ptcforms introduced by the Emperor Joseph II. in Church and State, 
and formation during his reign of the Germanic Union, or, 

'^eut[ct)er gurftenbunb' ^785 

Commencement of the Revolutionary Era ; from about the period 
of the Death of Frederic the Great of Prussia, 1786 ; dspravity 
and degradation of the minor Courts of Germany, from the 
Peace of Hubertsburg, 1763, to the French Eevolution, 1789. 
Great Wars ag-ainst France,* ending with *the 

battles of Ligny and Waterloo From 1793-1815 

Formation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon, and 

complete ^dissolution of tlie German ^T:ipire . 1806 
Congress of Vienna and commencement of the Act of Confederation, 
establishing the German Confederation in place 

of the ancient Empire 1814 and 1815 

The Holy Alliance (joined by France, 1818) ..... 1815 
Riots, Insurrections, and Revolts in Berlin, Vienna, and elsewhere 

in Germany 1848 

War in Hm:gary and North Italy 1848 and 1849 

Concordat of Austria with the Pope 1855 

War of Austria against Sardinia and France ; battles of Magenta 

and Solferino, and cession of Lombardy 18/^9 

Commencement of the Constitutional Struggle in Prussia (con- 
tinued till the present time) 1 862 

War of Schleswig-Holstein 1864 

Convention of Gastein 1865 

War between Prussia and Austria, ending with the battle of 
Sadowa, and the Treaty of Prague ; and in the same year 

War between Austria and Italy 1866 

War between North Germany, headed by Prussia, and France ; the 
Battle of Sedan, capture of the Emperor of the French, 
Napoleon III. ; Siege and Surrender of Paris . . . 1870,1871 
The King of Prussia, WiUiam I., Emperor of Germany . . . 1871 



* For the date of the many events of note during this period, see the body 
of this work. 



224 



DYNASTIES 

OF 

THE GERMAN EMPIRE. 



I. Th© Carlovingian Emperors, rrom tlie Treaty of Yer • 
dun, A.D. 843, till 911. 

[House of S*ranconia. Conrad T., Duke of Franconia ; from 
911 till 918. With this monarch, after whose death the Imperial 
dignity was transferred to the House of Saxony, the crown became 
elective, and remained so for nine centuries.] 

II. House of Saxony. From Henry I. the Fowler, 919, till 1024, 
The Saxon line of Emperors lasted about 100 years. Five Empe- 
rors of this House. 

m. House of Pranconia. From Conrad 11. the Salic, 1024, till 
1125. The Franconian line also lasted about 100 years. Five 
Emperors of this House. 

[Between the House of Franconia and the House of Hohenstaufen 
came the Emperor Lothaire II. of Saxony ; 1125.] 

IV. House of Swal>ia or Holiesistaufeii. From Conrad III., 
11 38, till 1250, the period of the G-reat Interregnum. This Dynasty 
was interrupted by the Emperor Otho IV. of Saxony, the Guelph; 
1208. 

{K\)t (Srtat ^nXtxxt^nwm ; from about 1250 tiu 1273.] 

V. TSie House of Hapslburgr. From Eudolph I. of Hapsbnrg, 
1273, till 1308. Two Emperors of this House only (until its resto- 
ration in the person of Albert II., in 1438) : viz., Rudolph I. and 
Albert I., his son, between whose reigns the Emperor Adolph of 
Nassau intervened. 

VI. House of Ziuzemburg-. From Henry TO., 1308, till the 
restoration of the House of Hapsburg in 1438 ; with the interrup- 
tion of the reign of Louis of Bavaria, 1314, and a period of anarchy 
and confusion. Four Emperors of this House. 

VII. Tlie House of Hapsburg- again ; from Albert II., 1438, 
till 1745, when Francis I., husband of Maria Theresa, Queen of 
Hungary (and Empress, as wife of Francis I.), was elected Emperor. 
In all, sixteen Emperors and one Queen (viz., Maria Theresa), after- 
wards Empress, of this House. This Dynasty was again interrupted 
by the election of Charles VII. of Bavaria, as Emperor, 1742. 

VIII. TJie House of Xiorraine. From Francis I., 1746, till 1806, 
when the G-erman Empire eiids. Since the year 18C'», down to the 
present time, the House of Lorraine has taken the title of Emperors 
of Austria. Six Emperors of this House. 



Spottiswoode & Co.y Printers, London and Westminster, 



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